Review: August Burns Red - Leveler: 10th Anniversary Edition

August Burns Red released their Leveler:10^th Anniversary Edition on May 21^st. The original album, released in June 2011, reached #11 on the Billboard 200 Album chart, as well as #1 on the US Rock and #2 on the US Rock charts. The band’s lineup has not changed since 2011 and includes JB Brubaker (lead guitar), Brent Rambler (rhythm guitar), Matt Greiner (drums), Jake Luhrs (lead vocals), and Dustin Davidson (bass).on (bass).

The metalcore band from Lancaster, PA, re-recorded all the tracks from 2011 album for the Anniversary Edition. It stays relatively true to the original album albeit with a somewhat different tonal quality. The sound is more polished and better produced than the previous one, which was rawer. Luhrs’ vocals are as aggressive as ever. The band’s guitar tracks were updated to include different tunings and reworked solos.

There were several guest appearances on the album. Trivium’s Matt Heafy contributed vocals and played the guitar solo on “Internal Cannon“. Periphery’s Misha Mansoor played the guitar solo on “Pangaea.” Ryan Kirby of Fit For A King supported the vocals on “Poor Millionaire.”

The band reflected on the album. “Leveler is a record we’ve always been proud of, and we wanted to do something special for its ten-year anniversary,” says Brubaker. “We’ve done some cool remix projects for previous albums when they’ve turned 10, but with Leveler, we decided to kick things up a notch. COVID has kept us off the road for such a long time that we found ourselves with a rare opportunity to take on this unique project.”

He continues, “We dove into this record and dissected the songs, rewriting solos, changing the tunings, adding new textures and elements, and got a few of our friends to do some guest spots as well. Our longtime producers Carson Slovak and Grand McFarland handled the recording/mixing and helped us take Leveler to new sonic heights. I think this is the best-sounding ABR record we’ve ever made, and it’s going to allow people to experience the record in a whole new way. I can’t wait to share this with everyone.”

Fans of the 2011 album will certainly enjoy the Anniversary Edition. The engineering and production give the album a different sound than the original. In addition, the guest appearances and reworked guitar parts provide some refreshing updates. If you want to hear the songs live, then you are in luck. August Burns Red will be out on the road this fall on their LEVELER 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY HEADLINE TOUR.

Track List