Phantom Anthem
Product ID: 47680424
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August Burns Red seventh studio album, Phantom Anthem, sees the band embark on a new chapter. Everyone carries a message, passions and an identity, and it's that powerful voice inside that drives people forward in life. The album highlights that it's what's inside that really matters. In turn, August Burns Red breathes new life in Phantom Anthem, displaying their own passion and further solidifying their impressive expertise as musicians and lyricists with their iconic, ferociously heavy sound. Review: The "Wake-Up Call"... - The very first words of the very first song of the new ABR album Phantom Anthem present us with a rather formidable challenge. It is both visceral and cerebral, and it comes from the slyly beguiling, self-proclaimed and self-serving "King of Sorrow": "I'm the angel of the dead, take a good look at me...Let me speak for you in these times of dread. I'll be your guide, now please just rest your head." And if we accept the challenge, we will find ourselves in the very core of a gravitational-wave of transcending metal, engaged in a cataclysmic struggle of both philosophical and natural contrasts: dark/light, good/evil, lost/found, awake/sleep, pain/analgesia, etc. And if it is to be our pleasure to listen to this expansive album, we should be advised to prepare for an edge-of-the-pit, never-before-journey of a metal-2the-core musical exudation. Now as one can surmise, this is not a self-contained weekend meditation retreat kind of album. However there is an intermezzo period within the framework of most songs at which time the listener can reflect on what has transpired and contemplate what is to come. We need this, our brain needs this, and ABR has taken care to provide an infusion of guitar and percussion virtuosity to supplement this need. Such is the case with "Hero of the Half Truth", which is a bold and blistering rebuttal upon the King of Sorrow. After a guitar driven breakdown there is a rip and shred battle of cinemascope proportions in which all of the instrumental forces of the band are deployed in a combative effort to defeat the "king" and his nefarious dogs of war. And "rest assured," he has "met his match." The riveting and powerfully sustained triumvirate of guitar, bass and percussion deliver with dramatic intensity a decisive blow to the malevolent forces of doom and destruction. Now as the dust starts to settle, and as the band pulls back from the accelerated crescendo, we hear the emerging tone of a celestial-like chime in the background. And as the chime-bell becomes louder we start to hear the background echo of what sounds like an intonation of a Byzantine-like chant coming from a distant choir. This suggests a supernal presence amid the Armageddon-like encounter. What a great ending to a great song. Now with "The Frost" we are introduced to what is a recurring theme for this album: the need for an inner awakening of either a personal or collective manifestation. And Jake, the vocalist, gives us a penetratingly expressive vocal picture of the journey one person undertook in order to acquire this awakening: "Time stands still...as I find my place among the stars...I may seem lost...But...I am more awake than ever." The singing and the remarkable clarity and radiance of the guitar, bass, and percussion make this a mantle-piece song. And if you survive this sojourn into the "frost-pit-of-hell" you are ready for the "awakening." ABR have received a Grammy nomination for metal performance with the powerful "Invisible Enemy", and for me this is the lode-star song of the album. And we can be thankful for the info-graphic video that is available, as it helps to delineate vital aspects of the song. At the very beginning of the song/video we have a nocturnal-like aesthetic as we view the vocalist with his eyes closed. At the same time we have a four chord sequence emanating from a stringed instrument. Within the time-frame of the four chords, the vocalist, and perhaps the band, has had a dramatic awakening; his eyes are now fully opened. And as the band kicks into full-metal performance mode, the vocalist unloads with the mother-lode of a wake-up call scream to end a dream on, or as Gustav Mahler might put it: "Nature roars here." We do not have the particulars of what the pre-awakening life was about; however, in a strikingly poetic rendering, "wounded, and tired, worried / it's like fighting an invisible enemy / what lies ahead you thought you'd never see." The singer issues a forewarning of uncertainty as regards the future. Soon and with the same rapidity of the awakening, we have the inception of pain. "Pain is settling in," we are told, "it's surrounding us". Then, as the pain intensifies, we hear an electrifying scream. However, we must ask, is the scream primarily because of the pain, or is it in defiance to the pain? I perceive defiance and resistance in the very core of the scream. And Jake, who is a master of nuanced-expressive phrasing, seems to have coalesced pain and the defiance/resistance fusion into this particular, breathtaking scream. To add to this perception of the merging sensibilities of the scream we have a lack of any dissonance coming from the instrumentation of the band. They bring it home in a blazingly triumphant presentation, with no trace of unrelieved tension. And so we find ourselves "being lost." Lost in the music, at the very time in which the "pain is settling in" What a powerful and masterful use of the scream as a narrative device. In the midst of darkness we have light! Now with "Float" we have an anti-apathetical barnburner of a song. The vocalist, in a dramatic and profound exhortation, informs us that we must "wake-up the fire inside." "Where did we go wrong?" He asks. "It's apathy turned into atrophy", he surmises. And in a vivid evocation of "Invisible Enemy" we are given the invocatory instruction to,..."open your eyes"..."Wake-Up, Wake-Up, Wake-Up"...Needless to say the crisp firecracker melding of the guitars, bass, and percussion add credence to that invocation. Another powerful song! Perhaps one of the most riveting and thought-provoking songs on the album is "Dangerous". A psychological-thriller of a song, "When what you love is taken away / You realize what you're made of." And you may have to, along with the vocalist, "Scream and claw at the air." And in the live performance it appears as if Jake is in fact clawing a path through the air. Being helped in this endeavor by the grip'n'rip metal grinders JB, Brent, Dustin, and the trip-hammer blaster of percussion, Matt. As they all join forces and in a sustained outpouring of unsurpassed black-jack fury they deliver the mother-lode of a wake-up call to Mr. "Dangerous." There is a distinctiveness and an immediacy infused within the framework of this album that compels us to repeated (and rewarded) playing. Each song has a palpable, supernal-like energy that propels it into the path of a gravitational wave of transcending music, as we ourselves become part of this immersive experience. We are drawn in by the bands elucidating insights and riveting musicality! Review: A beast of an album! - I normally write long and elaborate reviews for music, but I'll keep this short. I enjoyed, FIFAP and all of its contents, and therefore came into this album with a similar expectation: to like what was here, and to see why August Burns Red continues to be one of the most consistent bands, if not /the/ most consistent, in metal. But what I got, was utter surprise when this album absolutely blew me away. "Phantom Anthem" is one of the hardest releases ABR have done, which says a lot when thinking back on their albums like "Rescue and Restore" & "Messengers". This also happens to be their most technical, their riffs and leads more creative and original than ever. They wrote this album following their 10th Anniversary Messengers Tour (which was unbelievable!!!) and its hard to ignore the effect that had on their writing. Songs like "King of Sorrow", "Hero of the Half-Truth" evoke this, while still establishing something quite unique. Unlike their last effort, there aren't a lot of strange, random segments like the surfer grooves or the western country interlude. Instead, there are beautiful clean sections, small interludes that take advantage of the chelo, as well as other blues-inspired sections that help to elevate songs like "The Frost", "Float" and the end of "Generations" to a whole new level. Dustin (the bands bassist) wrote three songs for the record this time around (having written "Everlasting Ending" on FIFAP), "Lifelines" and "Carbon Copy" which helps to give he familiar ABR sound a boost, incorporating some new elements not seen before, such as the arpeggio run in the solo on "Lifelines". But don't worry, the bands metalcore roots are still there. Songs like "King of Sorrow", "Invisible Enemy", "Quake" all maintain the crushing riffs that ABR fans know and love, with plenty of breakdowns. Speaking of which, keep an ear out for the breakdown in "Dangerous" as one of their best yet. I found some of the lyrics to be a little more generic than is normal for ABR, but it is only for a few songs. The rest contain meaningful, honest and explorative lyrics, observations of the world and of the self, on the impact they have on one another. But nevertheless, "Phantom Anthem" is a beast of an album, one that far exceeded what I expected going in, and, as crazy as it is to say for a band that has been making music for 13 or 14 years, they are only getting better.
A**R
The "Wake-Up Call"...
The very first words of the very first song of the new ABR album Phantom Anthem present us with a rather formidable challenge. It is both visceral and cerebral, and it comes from the slyly beguiling, self-proclaimed and self-serving "King of Sorrow": "I'm the angel of the dead, take a good look at me...Let me speak for you in these times of dread. I'll be your guide, now please just rest your head." And if we accept the challenge, we will find ourselves in the very core of a gravitational-wave of transcending metal, engaged in a cataclysmic struggle of both philosophical and natural contrasts: dark/light, good/evil, lost/found, awake/sleep, pain/analgesia, etc. And if it is to be our pleasure to listen to this expansive album, we should be advised to prepare for an edge-of-the-pit, never-before-journey of a metal-2the-core musical exudation. Now as one can surmise, this is not a self-contained weekend meditation retreat kind of album. However there is an intermezzo period within the framework of most songs at which time the listener can reflect on what has transpired and contemplate what is to come. We need this, our brain needs this, and ABR has taken care to provide an infusion of guitar and percussion virtuosity to supplement this need. Such is the case with "Hero of the Half Truth", which is a bold and blistering rebuttal upon the King of Sorrow. After a guitar driven breakdown there is a rip and shred battle of cinemascope proportions in which all of the instrumental forces of the band are deployed in a combative effort to defeat the "king" and his nefarious dogs of war. And "rest assured," he has "met his match." The riveting and powerfully sustained triumvirate of guitar, bass and percussion deliver with dramatic intensity a decisive blow to the malevolent forces of doom and destruction. Now as the dust starts to settle, and as the band pulls back from the accelerated crescendo, we hear the emerging tone of a celestial-like chime in the background. And as the chime-bell becomes louder we start to hear the background echo of what sounds like an intonation of a Byzantine-like chant coming from a distant choir. This suggests a supernal presence amid the Armageddon-like encounter. What a great ending to a great song. Now with "The Frost" we are introduced to what is a recurring theme for this album: the need for an inner awakening of either a personal or collective manifestation. And Jake, the vocalist, gives us a penetratingly expressive vocal picture of the journey one person undertook in order to acquire this awakening: "Time stands still...as I find my place among the stars...I may seem lost...But...I am more awake than ever." The singing and the remarkable clarity and radiance of the guitar, bass, and percussion make this a mantle-piece song. And if you survive this sojourn into the "frost-pit-of-hell" you are ready for the "awakening." ABR have received a Grammy nomination for metal performance with the powerful "Invisible Enemy", and for me this is the lode-star song of the album. And we can be thankful for the info-graphic video that is available, as it helps to delineate vital aspects of the song. At the very beginning of the song/video we have a nocturnal-like aesthetic as we view the vocalist with his eyes closed. At the same time we have a four chord sequence emanating from a stringed instrument. Within the time-frame of the four chords, the vocalist, and perhaps the band, has had a dramatic awakening; his eyes are now fully opened. And as the band kicks into full-metal performance mode, the vocalist unloads with the mother-lode of a wake-up call scream to end a dream on, or as Gustav Mahler might put it: "Nature roars here." We do not have the particulars of what the pre-awakening life was about; however, in a strikingly poetic rendering, "wounded, and tired, worried / it's like fighting an invisible enemy / what lies ahead you thought you'd never see." The singer issues a forewarning of uncertainty as regards the future. Soon and with the same rapidity of the awakening, we have the inception of pain. "Pain is settling in," we are told, "it's surrounding us". Then, as the pain intensifies, we hear an electrifying scream. However, we must ask, is the scream primarily because of the pain, or is it in defiance to the pain? I perceive defiance and resistance in the very core of the scream. And Jake, who is a master of nuanced-expressive phrasing, seems to have coalesced pain and the defiance/resistance fusion into this particular, breathtaking scream. To add to this perception of the merging sensibilities of the scream we have a lack of any dissonance coming from the instrumentation of the band. They bring it home in a blazingly triumphant presentation, with no trace of unrelieved tension. And so we find ourselves "being lost." Lost in the music, at the very time in which the "pain is settling in" What a powerful and masterful use of the scream as a narrative device. In the midst of darkness we have light! Now with "Float" we have an anti-apathetical barnburner of a song. The vocalist, in a dramatic and profound exhortation, informs us that we must "wake-up the fire inside." "Where did we go wrong?" He asks. "It's apathy turned into atrophy", he surmises. And in a vivid evocation of "Invisible Enemy" we are given the invocatory instruction to,..."open your eyes"..."Wake-Up, Wake-Up, Wake-Up"...Needless to say the crisp firecracker melding of the guitars, bass, and percussion add credence to that invocation. Another powerful song! Perhaps one of the most riveting and thought-provoking songs on the album is "Dangerous". A psychological-thriller of a song, "When what you love is taken away / You realize what you're made of." And you may have to, along with the vocalist, "Scream and claw at the air." And in the live performance it appears as if Jake is in fact clawing a path through the air. Being helped in this endeavor by the grip'n'rip metal grinders JB, Brent, Dustin, and the trip-hammer blaster of percussion, Matt. As they all join forces and in a sustained outpouring of unsurpassed black-jack fury they deliver the mother-lode of a wake-up call to Mr. "Dangerous." There is a distinctiveness and an immediacy infused within the framework of this album that compels us to repeated (and rewarded) playing. Each song has a palpable, supernal-like energy that propels it into the path of a gravitational wave of transcending music, as we ourselves become part of this immersive experience. We are drawn in by the bands elucidating insights and riveting musicality!
N**Y
A beast of an album!
I normally write long and elaborate reviews for music, but I'll keep this short. I enjoyed, FIFAP and all of its contents, and therefore came into this album with a similar expectation: to like what was here, and to see why August Burns Red continues to be one of the most consistent bands, if not /the/ most consistent, in metal. But what I got, was utter surprise when this album absolutely blew me away. "Phantom Anthem" is one of the hardest releases ABR have done, which says a lot when thinking back on their albums like "Rescue and Restore" & "Messengers". This also happens to be their most technical, their riffs and leads more creative and original than ever. They wrote this album following their 10th Anniversary Messengers Tour (which was unbelievable!!!) and its hard to ignore the effect that had on their writing. Songs like "King of Sorrow", "Hero of the Half-Truth" evoke this, while still establishing something quite unique. Unlike their last effort, there aren't a lot of strange, random segments like the surfer grooves or the western country interlude. Instead, there are beautiful clean sections, small interludes that take advantage of the chelo, as well as other blues-inspired sections that help to elevate songs like "The Frost", "Float" and the end of "Generations" to a whole new level. Dustin (the bands bassist) wrote three songs for the record this time around (having written "Everlasting Ending" on FIFAP), "Lifelines" and "Carbon Copy" which helps to give he familiar ABR sound a boost, incorporating some new elements not seen before, such as the arpeggio run in the solo on "Lifelines". But don't worry, the bands metalcore roots are still there. Songs like "King of Sorrow", "Invisible Enemy", "Quake" all maintain the crushing riffs that ABR fans know and love, with plenty of breakdowns. Speaking of which, keep an ear out for the breakdown in "Dangerous" as one of their best yet. I found some of the lyrics to be a little more generic than is normal for ABR, but it is only for a few songs. The rest contain meaningful, honest and explorative lyrics, observations of the world and of the self, on the impact they have on one another. But nevertheless, "Phantom Anthem" is a beast of an album, one that far exceeded what I expected going in, and, as crazy as it is to say for a band that has been making music for 13 or 14 years, they are only getting better.
T**R
Buy it. You won't be sorry.
If you are a fan of August Burns Red, buy this album. I've been a fan since 2010 and this is my favorite album by far. It's so good it's almost unbelievable. Long time fans will be surprised to hear Jake (vocalist) do a clean vocal section on the song Coordinates, one of my favorites on the album, and the guitar work throughout really shows how far the band has progressed. The mix is supurb as well. Why are you still reading this review? Buy it already and turn it up to 11!
M**L
Awesome Music, Low Quality Physical Product
I have no complaints about any of the ABR albums, and frankly own most all of them. However, as an avid CD collector, it angers me when they use such low quality plastic casings that the hinges break off before you even get to listen to the CD. Not the artists fault, just their label choosing to print with garbage products. Album worth 5 stars, CD itself not so much.
G**A
Love August Burn Red!
Great album musically & licacally!
C**R
Best album yet
Best album yet. The evolution of ABR has been astounding and they never disappoint.Such clean vocals and sounds. Even with 7 albums each one is unique but still remains true to their sound.
P**E
Fantastic work, ABR
This album is awesome. It was written, recorded, and engineered with an obvious abundance of talent and passion. The frost is probably my favorite song to come from the genre in several years. Plus, its good to see a group of humble dudes coming together as friends and doing what they love.
J**L
At a time...
At a time where I feel I am a crossroads in life, this album comes out exactly when I need it to! As I am sure all of my fellow ABR fans can relate, the music and songs this band puts out consistently make a connection with you. I love this album, I am thankful for it being exactly what I needed!
K**M
相変わらず格好いい
3rdのConstellations以来8年ぶりにこのバンドの音源購入。The FrostのPVを気に入り購入。 しかし#4Lifelineばかり聴いてます。イントロからしてギターが最高のメロディを奏でており展開がたまらない。3:54秒からは最高のギターワークで死ねます
D**N
So anspruchsvoll und interessant kann Metalcore sein
"Found in Far Away Places", das Album von August Burns Red aus dem Jahr 2015, wusste mich zu begeistern: Das Quintett aus Pennsylvania stach damit klar aus dem Metalcore-Einheitsbrei heraus, schon allein dadurch, dass zahlreiche andere musikalische Genres in die Songs integriert wurden. Daher fragte ich mich vorab schon, ob August Burns Red dieses Niveau mit "Phantom Anthem" würden halten können. Antwort: sie können! Zwar wird hier nicht mehr mit so vielen genrefremden Elementen wie zuvor experimentiert, doch dafür hat das Album andere Qualitäten. Los geht es schon bei dem hohen technischen Level, auf dem August Burns Red spielen: Jeder der Instrumentalisten ist ein Meister seines Fachs, besonders die Gitarristen JB Brubaker und Brent Rambler leisten wahnsinnig gute Arbeit. Aber auch Bass und Schlagzeug sind genial gespielt - von der Leistung könnte sich manche Prog-Band eine Scheibe abschneiden. Weiterhin vermeiden August Burns Red einen konventionellen Songaufbau und streuen in fast jedem Lied überraschende Parts ein, welche die Stücke zusätzlich interessant machen. Überhaupt kann das Songwriting überzeugen, auf "Phantom Anthem" befinden sich nur echte Kracher. Wer einfach nur stumpfen Baller-Metalcore will, ist bei August Burns Red an der falschen Adresse und sollte sich anderweitig orientieren. Wer es hingegen anspruchsvoller mag, ist mit "Phantom Anthem" bestens bedient - es ist ein Hammer von einem Album!
A**A
Edição e capa dupla
Quando comprei, não sabia que era Edição dupla, ou seja, o preço estava realmente promocional. A capa também é dupla e com bela arte gráfica.
T**R
Excellent album
Top 3 album of the year
T**O
Top
Sicuramente il loro album migliore.
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