solid, can't wait to hear the rest

Okay this new song is pretty heavy for their standards, also a little more technical it seems. Very slight changes and everybody will probably say they still sound the same as the last 3 records, but I like it!

Band is extremely solid overall, this probably won't be any different. Excited for this

SuperB

wow it's good

no thank you

New record has the potential to be their best yet. I can feel it. One of the most consistently excellent bands in the genre.

song's great, new album should be solid

super consistent band, hyped

Ah this is phenomenal! Can't wait to see them this weekend!

fuck that bottom end hits hard, lotta bass. been missing some ABR for a while so this hits the spot nicely

"probably one of the most talented bands of all time "

lol

Anyway, song was pretty good

Wow it has an almost tech/prog death feel at moment. This is a great song! Can't wait for the album.

this djents hard

"this djents hard"

Uhg.

This is really not what I expected from abr. They have really made some that retains the signature melodic brand of metalcore while being more crushing and chaotic than ever.

Already better than all but 2-3 tracks from the last record

Wow, this rips.

this is so dialed in, I'm surprised how much it's being praised

Fucking hell, this rules hard. JB stay shredding, and Jake always gets better and better

holy fuck this is amazing

The drums on this are insane. Jesus.

that drumming..hnnng

I've seen them live. Dude is a beast

song fucking rules. so excited for the album

Was super worried after their last album (only a few good tracks really), but this is fucking awesome.

This is OK I guess. Nothing special tbh.

saw them live 8 years ago and they were definitely good even then

sounds like theyre tuning a bit lower nowadays. also this video slays.

sick vid

This was okay, pretty forgettable. Instead of alternating between riffing and chugging, the chugging seemed to drag on through the entire first 2/3 of the song...

Top notch metal track. Jake is an absolute beast of a vocalist.

absolute savages

Video is fucking sick. How has no one done puppets before? And is it just me or is this like 50 times heavier than the last 2 efforts? I'm getting hyped, song is tight

"How has no one done puppets before?"

Radiohead kinda did

I guess I meant in the metal genre. Because the only way puppets are cool is if they're playing metal.

RIFFAGE.

*stacatto syncopated chugs*

*ride playing quarter notes*

this shit has been done for over a decade, I used to be all over this scene but my god its so stale its honestly baffling people aren't sick of this shit yet

because. that shit is elemental.

Jake's vocals sound different but in a good way. Less monotonous.

Song is pretty good, video is pretty awesome

"this shit has been done for over a decade, I used to be all over this scene but my god its so stale its honestly baffling people aren't sick of this shit yet"

yeah it is kind of insane how uninventive this genre is. But hey, if people enjoy it

yay can't wait to hear the same song 12 times again

got emmmm

I mean, it's metalcore. You can dress it up any way you want (and ABR has, just listen to the random spanish guitar or trumpet interludes for example) but at the end of the day the formula stays the same, like, oh yeah, every other sub genre of music.

jesus fuck was that good

probably one of the most talented bands of all time

maybe not the most talented of all time (that's a slightly broad spectrum) but certainly one of the most talented in metalcore.

"probably one of the most talented bands of all time "

Yeah I don't know about that. Song is pretty good though.

Always enjoy these guys.

not bad
not brilliant either

Ewww I can't believe you tried to discredit someone by posting subjective music tastes Someguest. The only one you discredited was yourself.

this is seriously one of the coolest metal videos i've seen in a while, song was hella good too

Album title is funny in the worst way possible, but the band is solid so I don't care

i like dis

August Burns Red is the Chevelle of metalcore.

yea actually whats up with that album title

*Playing drums*

*Playing guitars and bass*

this shit has been done for over a decade, I used to be all over this scene but my god its so stale its honestly baffling people aren't sick of this shit yet.

I enjoyed the song and ABR but let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's not a particularly original thing (minus the video)

This is cool. Love the metal puppet music video.

August Burns Red is the Chevelle of metalcore.

this is like super correct

not enough 3.8 averages tho

And thus Puppetcore was born.

Songs is a hard 2.5, average as fuck.

'And thus Puppetcore was born.'

You clearly haven't seen the Slipknot sock puppet cover. Allow me to enlighten you;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vio9rVMMfkA

song and video rule

Man after all this time they still manage to bring the relentless heat. The track sounds great and I am looking forward to the album

"August Burns Red is the Chevelle of metalcore."

Perfect description

"August Burns Red is the Chevelle of metalcore"

Pretty much, dig both bands for the most part though.

I just don't get the music video at all, song is good.

That was slightly less bland than most of their work

I like it. The allusions to their previous videos is a nice touch, too

Thank you Dyno, I was struggling to find any point to the video, and now that you mention that and after watching it again it makes a lot more sense.

Not bad. This sounds a lot like that other metalcore band.

SuperVoid

Are you a child or just really dumb? I mean really, that rebuttal is drivel

I'm trying to find something clever to respond with but honestly the absence of any sort of thing resembling logic in your statement prevents me from doing so

What is it that you are fantastically dangling?

^this made me laugh more than it should have

On second listen this is boring. Can these geeks just make an album full of songs as good as Meddler? Or Composure?

Composure is overrated

This song is overrated. And its got nothing on Composure so.....

FantasticDangler, the guy was being sarcastic, ribbing on an earlier post so chill. Sweet username btw.

THE GALLOWS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE THIS

I never understood why all the kids want ABR to make every album like Messengers. They're still heavy so, what's the issue? Even ABR has said Messengers isn't a well written album.

Messengers was a really strong record but the band wasn't nearly as complex or even as good as songwriters as they are now. They were certainly very breakdown-centric even if they pulled off this approach better than most.

TheFantasticDangler

I honestly wanted to ask you the same question after reading your initial comment but I don't feel the need to question other people's intelligence to make myself feel or look superior.

Steak - When I was like 13 my buddy was writing a report for English and had to make a superhero, he asked me for a super hero name, first thing I came up with. Hes like Mr. Fantastic except hes permanently extended, no retraction, and he sort of just dangles around...

artiswar - thanks man, but he was responding to my comment earlier haha, and it was nonsensical and ignorant and obviously he was upset because I don't enjoy the same music he does so I thought I'd upset him more

SuperVoid(of intelligence) - lol dude, thing is my comment was an accurate criticism (I guess you just don't know what stacatto or syncopated means?, doesn't count if you google them bud) of metalcore/this song, you just got offended and stopped thinking and typed nonsense,

The superiority complex is strong with you isn't it? The problem with your comment was that you're criticising them for using devices and ornamentation used by plenty of other musicians and it's like criticising them for playing the fucking instruments altogether. August Burns Red have just done it well which is why it's well received and applauded. I'm also unsure why you think anyone except yourself is offended when you responded to a lighthearted satirical response with insults.

"probably one of the most talented bands of all time "

LOL. They're really good but then there are bands like Death, Iron Maiden, Slayer...

Sounds like any other ABR song, these guys haven't progressed their sound like at all over the years

@TheFantasticDangler don't know what you're talking about because I know zero music theory. Have learned the guitar through personal improv and writing like 3 hr a day past year and a half, and checked out what you were talking about through samples and wikipedia. think i have an idea of what you're talking about. Personally, have largely moved on from metalcore at this point, but still think at its best, the shit is unreal. I just don't know if there is really a single band good enough to qualify for that. But every genre kinda blows in general if you take it for what it does usually. jazz is a joke. death metal is a joke. technical metal i think is the biggest joke. mathcore competes with tech metal for biggest joke. post-metal is a joke. etc. and obviously, country, rap, electronic,etc. fuckin jokes. I could list my specific reasons for why but I won't.
My point is really that, I think as far as anything goes, after you reach a point of practice, almost anything technical that you can come up with sounds pretty fucking stale. Listen to enough of anything, you'll find that in general everything is just an imitation of the truly sublime. And obsessing about technicality is a black hole that leads to the more and more minute (as in infinitesimally small/specific but with no real substance in regards to the purpose of the whole). So ultimately, the only thing that I think genuinely separates better music from worse music is the candidness, magnitude, and moral of the passion that is put into it.
For me, ABR hits its target maybe on average 6-18 seconds of every song. And then there's a lot of technical metalcore posturing for the other 4 minutes. But I think that's just way too much fucking music, and for 6-18 seconds, that's why ppl stick around. For when the cello comes in on identity or martyr during the build for example. Sure, you could boil it down and say its a simple trick. But u could say that about anything, - soccer, chess, painting, guitar - when you're that good - it really does feel like a simple game, but its sublime. and the reality is that for 6-18 sec its not a trick - its a genuine feeling of catharsis that seems to signal a type of maturity that everybody wants a piece of, even if mostly they're too infatuated to even register which 6-18 seconds are good. Its like talking to a hot girl. Its really not that hard if you actually have the confidence to act genuinely. in fact, its outrageously simple. But only the swaggy can do it. And mostly there's just a bunch of pretenders. Its not complex to write a great combination of chords, but its both sublimely easy and difficult to do. Same with a good breakdown, a good build, a good chorus.

song is mids. teases maybe having an interesting part, but wants to be a tease instead, so its pretty dumb.
lyrics are flat.
vox are mids.
band is good, but frustrating.
worried by the track titles and album title, but hoping it will have some bangers (and beans, and mash)

Dude no one's gonna read that

yo Mega I stopped reading when you called jazz a joke (I mean the greats like Miles Davis, Coltrane, Brubeck, Mingus, Wayne Shorter, Bill Evans, Herby Hancock, etc. jazz lost touch of what it really was a long time ago)

jazz is the grandfather of modern music, and the best musicians in the world are/were jazz legends

any player can almost instantly improve almost every aspect of their playing learning jazz theory and jazz standards

ok apparently just about every genre is a joke to you?

Yeah all metal is basically Jazz speed up, or rooted from it. But I have no musical theory knowledge or anything like that, so I could be talking out of my ass. I just got these ears that recognize as such

And yeah Mega, what the hell do you like then? Lol

all metal is jazz sped up? Are you trolling or

No, not trying too? I just hear a lot of similarities in the scales/notes/structures of songs, for the most part. Again, I have no musical theory knowledge or education, so I'm probably completely wrong lol.

Also, Animals As Leaders is one of my favorites, so maybe that's why I hear it. Idk, please don't hate me!

I mean I don't hate you, but that just seems like an absurd claim. I don't know anything about music theory either, but I don't think that's a qualifier for knowing if something does/doesn't sound like jazz.

Dctarga was being hyperbolic, but I get where hes coming from

Fair enough

lol what the fuck happened in this thread

Life, my friend, life happened

lol when u don't finish reading, i understand how ur confused. but ya i don't expect most ppl will read. don't really care too much. doesn't take too long, and thinking is its own reward.

the fact that I called every genre a joke and said etc. I think should've been clear enough in illustrating that I was saying that every genre ultimately possesses standardized flaws that belong to the genre's standard 'form'. Each genre is going to have greatness within the genre. But that's not to say every second of most good songs is really all that good. Its more to say that average sections become good when exceptional sections make it worth listening to the entire thing. But ultimately, most songs just aren't that great for the majority of the song. They just don't sound that good. or otherwise, they have an absurd amount of repetition that makes it not sound good. A lot of Jazz sounds very similar to a lot of other stereotypical jazz songs, like average metalcore sounds pretty damn similar to all the other average metalcore . Same with every other genre. Pop is probably the most abusive because its the most stripped down. When u get more specific to a band's sound, ABR has shit that they do. they swictch it up a bit. but a lot of the time its "one of those" ABR parts or another. and then rarely, its going to sound extremely distinguishable.
Even if the most technical guitarist in the world were to play in front of you for long enough, you probably should eventually be able to distinguish and have an ear for every single different style of melody and rhythm that he was able to produce. But ultimately, I think how good and how long you would be able to say that it was good would be dependent on the variety that guitarist had as a creative mind and spirit to produce something unique, which would probably not be very dependent on his technical ability, but on his creative ability. Technicality gives you the tools to be effective in your creativity, but its nothing without the unique-borderline moral-creativity that makes music, and people in general, actually good and beautiful by composing different technicalities into an artistic piece of substance.

"Its more to say that average sections become good when exceptional sections make it worth listening to the entire thing"

Yes

"Technicality gives you the tools to be effective in your creativity, but its nothing without the unique-borderline moral-creativity that makes music, and people in general, actually good and beautiful by composing different technicalities into an artistic piece of substance."

And yes

Fair points

I have absolutely no idea what MegaJake is on about it, but it makes listening to music sound very unrewarding.

My point @Thefantasticdangler, u said u used to like stuff like ABR but now u don't because its so easy to tell the technicality of what they're doing. That's true, and I think that ultimately is going to happen. but the rare moments when they manage to capture an extremely idiosyncratic and visceral feeling of catharsis, emotional understanding, spiritual fortitude, etc. keeps people coming back - these things are irreplaceable and are not subject to the boredom of something technical. they're more subject to judgment, and when you grow as a person, u might grow out of that attitude -- but boredom will not be a problem in these moments. the technical stuff, always gets boring, like a lot of those annoying fast but pointless riffs that metalcore bands crank out that sound like shit, kind of like there are in this song. unless technicality is perfectly suited to an emotional purpose - like Reason in general - it makes no sense. No point in reasoning if emotion doesn't exist to give Reason purpose.

@Gameofmetal, one year I'm gonna come back to this site, and you'll have managed to be rewarded by music more than 1-2 sentences of thought ;)

Don't always mean to be the trigger man.
But like genres, people also manage to reproduce a standard sound over and over that is easily recognizable.
Like: "What the fuck happened to this thread?" after any post longer than a paragraph. I've learned to find the humor in it, but I will say: its a bit boring, a bit technical.
'Til next time...

wtf just happened? I feel like a part of my brain just left my head.

"this song is overrated. And its got nothing on Composure so....."

lol wrong

and holy shit the kid that's been posting all the walls of text in this thread is an absolute comedian. unintentionally.

I love that song/your user name

This entire thread went from 0 to 100 really fucking quick

While this mega dude has some interesting points a hell of a lot of it is pseudo-intellectual bullshit. Truly great music does not just have 6-18 seconds of music worth listening to. "Spirit Breaker", for example, is a truly great song because every fucking second is packed with catharsis.

what a boring comment section

amazing song, cant say i miss the constellations tone though

Geez you guys write a LOT.

Get a room for fuck's sakes...

Oops!

Lel TL:DR

Song and clip slays tho.

yawn

Seems like Brent is doing a lot more solo work in a live version of this. Usually just ends up being the breakdown machine of the band so could explain why this song sounds way more robust.

Jake also sounds way more beast than he has in recent years. Definitely looking forward to this!

Mannnnnn that meddler set in the video tho, shot right in my goddamn nostalgic heart.

"Seems like Brent is doing a lot more solo work in a live version of this. Usually just ends up being the breakdown machine of the band so could explain why this song sounds way more robust."

I sure hope he gets a bigger role on the new album, it is really long overdue.

I wish I liked this band. They have songs I like, but they can never keep my attention for a full album without me getting bored.

Try going to the gym and then listening

Song is so fuckin heat. Love the djentyness in it. Another banger from ABR what else is new.

JB amazes me with his guitar work

I feel like I'm the only one who thinks ABR and guitar solos are not a good mix. As much as I love this band's last several albums I cringe to varying degrees whenever a solo comes up.

I think JB's solos elevate each song that they're in, especially in songs like Identity and Mariana's Trench

JB is my favourite guitarist and his solos are nothing less than exquisite.

I just don't feel like their brand of metalcore and flashy guitar solos is a good combination to my ears

I feel you bloc, their music seems more suited to his usual riffs and breakdowns, but his solos are very well composed for the songs that they appear in imo

his riffs are very flashy though

The fuck is this thread holy shit

Yeah keeping riffs flashy is fine. Like for the bridge of a song, instead of doing a solo section, I don't mind if there is like an extra flashy riff section where the riffing is like higher up on the fretboard OR if there is like a melodic lead that repeats or something.

Going into full blown solo mode? I just don't feel it.

I haven't listened to too much of their new stuff, maybe they've simplified their sound, I don't know, but they used to have guitar work much flashier and more technical than most metalcore bands.

They haven't simplified at all

Yeah their guitar work gets more flashy and technical with every release, which is a good thing in their case. It's not technical for the sake of being technical, and it remains catchy.

Other than solos, another issue I have with their recent stuff is the inclusion of other instruments like trumpets and latin percussion. It's like ehhhh what are you doing...

The inclusion of other instruments really heightens their sound imo, but I can see why it wouldn't be for everybody. The trumpets on Creative Captivity elevates the outro of the song so well, and really makes it sound whole and complete

Overall, I can live with them and the solos tbh. I just fear that they will overdo it.

Hahaha. Holy crap! Way better than expected. I'm not sure why I never gave these guys enough credit. Even accidentally saw them live, and they were wonderful, but I still never looked into anything they've done for 3-4 albums.

This is great.