AUGUST BURNS RED // PHANTOM ANTHEM

Byron Hall
Oct 1, 2017
3 min read

Band: August Burns Red

Release: Phantom Anthem

Area: Pennsylvania

Date of release: 6/10/17

Genre: Metalcore (Christmascore)

Reviewer: Byron Hall

For Fans Of: The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Ghost Inside

This was an incredibly humbling experience, not only for me but for every member of the Behind The Scene Community! As the title suggests, this is an album review of 'Phantom Anthem'.

The first track on the album "King Of Sorrow" is very theatrical, almost Avenged Sevenfold theatrical.

The initial riff echoes through with a muffled tone After a few counts, the song explodes into your ear-holes! Holding many textural layers beneath the bass riff and utilizing interesting effects creating the illusion of a death march. The wailing guitar cuts through all of this with harsh ferocity adding extra spice to step-to-step segmented rhythm. The new direction and tone of the album shows that August Burns Red aren't just the fathers of metalcore, they're the DILFs of metalcore.

"Frost" has been out for just over two weeks and has ranked 393,241 views as of writing this. Fans have made some interesting comments about the new track and the video. Being hailed as going 'Christmascore' and being a 'Frozen 2 Leaked Soundtrack' this track had a bit of a reputation to uphold. The song starts with a simple flooded tone guitar riff and well Christmas bells. This builds up for over thirty seconds and then breaks into the perfect circle pit anthem. The complexity of having all of instruments and effects sounding as fluid as this mix could prove challenging. This is one of the stronger and more unique songs on the release, that being said this is going to be in the top 5 best albums of the year. Also JB Brubaker was called out for not wearing 'Flip-flops' haha, come to Australia and ill set you up with a new pair of pluggers!

The sixth track on the release "Quake" really made me want these boys to write the next few 'The Pirates Of The Caribbean' soundtracks- Disney get on that! From the get go i felt a real shanty vibe throughout the initial riff, perfect for plundering and drinking rum. For every time the line 'Keep moving, Keep breathing' is blasted through your speakers- take a hearty swig. The breakdown is full of cymbal, it shines through the mix pretty well. Especially in the later part of the song where it changes up, almost like a storm, the playing becomes more intense and rapid. This is everything and more then you could expect, even after 6 albums. The songwriting and structure just gets better and better. Kudos.

Phantom Anthem releases on the 6th of this month, I know I'm gonna have to add this to my vinyl collection asap! To truly take in this album in its blissful entirety you need to listen to it with a proper sound system, August Burns Red are doing everything right in my books. The dynamics of every track flowing into one another was an experience in itself. released I am going to have to pick it up on vinyl.

You can pre-order or stream 'Frost' and 'Invisible Enemy' HERE NOW!!!

Vocals: 9/10

Guitars: 8.5/10

Bass: 9/10

Drums: 9/10

Lyrics: 8.5/10

Songwriting: 8.5/10

Mixing: 8.5/10

Replayability: 8/10

Songwriting Integrity:8.5 /10

Complexity: 8.5/10

Overall: 86

Personal Enjoyment: 9.5/10

Comment: On the odd occasion i felt that the vocals were too smothered by the guitars and other effects, although listening on a more expensive system aided the vocals immensely