August Burns Red “Death Below”

In 2005, “Thrill Seeker” ripped. In 2023, this collection captures the same brand of mediocre noodly metal with cheese breakdowns that just doesn’t do it for me. Some of these songs would make excellent ringtones. But what can I expect? After almost twenty years of solid gigs and successful releases, there isn’t much hardship or struggle that rips into these tracks. I’m also not saying that artists need to suffer in order to release rich records. I’m also not privy to the band’s private life and their struggles that may or may not have been addressed here. But for a band that writes “we just write what felt good to us as artists” and then just refer to different parts of the record and their sound when highlighting the track by track breakdown on Apple Music, it’s obvious wankery and paycheck metal, that well… just isn’t for me.