August Burns Red – “Found In Far Away Places” [Album Review]

I have now been a fan of August Burns Red for about a decade, and as such I eagerly await any new material to sink my teeth into. Luckily Found In Far Away Places, the sixth and latest release from these heavy metal titans, offers up quite a lot to chomp down on. As you might expect, this is a heavy, at times punishingly-heavy record, with well-executed and tastefully-placed breakdowns that add to the overall picture.

From release to release August Burns Red has always kept things interesting and Found In Far Away Places is no different. The listener is kept on their toes and given brief respites from the brutality with numerous genre-bending, unexpected musical passages. “Majoring The Minors” provides a good example of this with some old school, country-style guitar picking sandwiched in between a wall of grinding guitars and thundering drums. I really like this whole record, but the big payoff for me comes at the end with the heavy, at times hypnotic “Vanguard” – I just can’t seem to get enough of this tune.

These guys most definitely upped the ante on this disc and, in my opinion, it is the best release of their career. Fans of the band are going to be more than pleased with this record and, for those who are not yet on-board the August Burns Red train, I think this would be a fantastic introduction to this killer act.

Track Listing:

01. The Wake
02. Martyr
03. Identity
04. Separating The Sea
05. Ghosts (Feat. Jeremy McKinnon)
06. Majoring The Minors
07. Everlasting Ending
08. Broken Promises
09. Blackwood
10. Twenty-One Grams
11. Vanguard

Run Time: 54:46
Release Date: June 29, 2015

Check out the song “The Wake” here.