By Ryan Getz
August Burns Red can be thought of as the band that swayed yours truly over to true, pedal to the metal heavy music. Pedal-to-the-metalcore, if you will. Forgive the pun. Anyhow… to say Rescue & Restore has been one of my most anticipated releases of 2013 would be an understatement. This, their fifth formal (and normal) LP takes all of the elements of their previous records and blends them to near perfection. Guitarist JB Brubaker has said that all of the songs on this record are clearly definable as their own track (only in heavy music would you have to make this claim, haha. It is interesting that he did this).
Rescue and Restore is A LOT to digest. To be perfectly honest with you – I’m nowhere near finished digesting the album, with all its intricacies. However, I have heard enough that I believe I can attempt to convince you, the reader to add this to your purchases. Not torrents, nor Spotify playlists, nor Pandora stations. Purchases.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnHhRuyPmlA&h=297&w=450]Let me start by saying that this record doesn’t have a whole bunch of stand out “singles,” a la “Composure” and “Back Burner” from Messengers and “Meddler” from Constellations. The closest thing to a single on here is arguably “Fault Line,” which has quite the tasty riff, making it stand out from the others purely on this aspect. The record doesn’t succeed with milking one’s adrenal gland like some of the other records, but some fun experimentation and technical playing dominates the record. “Provision” serves well as an album opener, but gives us five minutes of straightforward technical metalcore, forcing us to really contemplate what we are getting into, instead of having a song like “Thirty and Seven” from Constellations that could lead to a “one and done” listening scenario. Interludes are everywhere, such as the cool strings section in “Treatment” that features acoustic strumming, violin plucking, and cello playing. Can songs be brutal and beautiful? I think yes. “Creative Captivity” drives home this point even more, with an almost Far East vibe going on in the instrumental first portion of the track. Shoot, they even threw in some cowbell. As Christopher Walken taught us, more cowbell is NEVER a bad thing!
The lyrics are top notch as well. It’s all we can really expect from ABR though. One thing I appreciate is how they never lose sight of the full Gospel. In “Treatment,” we hear exclamations like “Start helping others while we’re still alive. You need to look in the mirror and ask yourself, “What good have I done? What are my true intentions?” and in “Beauty in Tragedy” proclamations like “The heart will stop beating, but the end is a new beginning. We’ll soar above the skyline of reality and reach towards a love ever after.” The reality of the Gospel ought to affect our view of eternity and how we treat others here and now. Preach it brutally, brothers!
Yeah, you better get this. If you are underwhelmed at first, listen to it a few more times.
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