August Burns Red - Rescue & Restore: Foreign & Familiar Edition (CD&DVD)
- CD/DVD
- Includes the feature length documentary Foreign &Familiar; life on the road with ABR throughout the entire tour cycle
Rescue and Restore continues the progression and experimentation of Leveler while revisiting the successes of ABR's previous albums such as the epic melodies and leads of Constellations, the pulsing rhythms and riff styles of Messengers and the, at times, raw, underproduced feel and brutality of Thrill Seekers.
Simply put ABR have perfected their sound and progressed into a more mature, more well rounded band without alienating any fans of any of their previous albums. This is THE metalcore record, written by probably the only band in the world who don't shy away from the label of being a metalcore band, who instead just embrace and perfect what they are. To use a cliche, this album is all killer, no filler.
ABR have themselves commented on how metalcore has become stagnant and fallen into a cycle of rehashed, 'samey' songs, progressing from generic string skipped riffs over pulsed rhythms into clean 'pop style' chorus', with a few repeats and a breakdown thrown in for good measure. As such, and as the album name suggests, ABR have tried to 'Rescue and Restore' the genre and have, in my opinion, suceeded without completely leaving their roots behind or taking the experimentation too far as I felt Leveler sometimes did. Other metalcore and even metal bands should listen to this album and take note.
