August Burns Red starts out 2025 with a 20th birthday party for their debut album “Thrill Seeker” on their own independent record label ABR Records. The Lancaster, Pennsylvania metalcore band has been at the forefront of defining and refining metalcore from the genre’s fledgling stage in the 00s and now they turn the clock back to rerecord their first release with current vocalist Jake Luhrs.
The original “Thrill Seeker” is the only ABR album that did not feature Jake Luhrs as lead vocalist, so this 20th anniversary edition completes the ABR discography with Jake in the band. The original album featured Josh McManness as lead vocalist and showed a young and ambitious band which had formed two years earlier in 2003 while the members were still in high school. Their rehearsal space at the time was an old egg house on the drummer Matt Greiner’s family farm. Starting from these humble beginnings, they signed to Solid State Records for their debut launching them on a trajectory as one of the genre’s great apostles.
As one may expect, “Thrill Seeker” gives a refined picture of the early beginnings of ABR. There is intensity, flourishes of technique, breakdowns, and beatdowns, all with the attention span of a caffeinated squirrel. That said, I particularly appreciated the great moments of clarity in melodic interludes that give a respite to the rather intense flurry of styles, rhythms, and tempos.
Unlike much metalcore that have a blend of clean and harsh vocals, ABR typically delivers only the tough stuff. This is on full display and Jake delivers the part flawlessly. To balance this bitter intensity, ABR makes use of melodic and harmonizing lead guitars that flirt with more technical sections. The performances are without error, which I think draws attention to the less developed songwriting they are playing that was lifted close to verbatim from the original. The musical ideas feel somewhat incomplete, especially compared to their later output, driving a listlessness in all of the flurry of metal styles. Most melodies never get to a hook having these very promising opening statements only to repeat and not resolve.
Now that isn’t to say that there aren’t some enjoyable songs in the mix. “Endorphins” is a great example of how this attention deficit style works well. There is a variety of vocal styles and cool rhythmic guitar riffs that swing into thrash territory that resonate well with me. “A Shot Below The Belt” showed more of the emotional edge of metalcore with the choice of riffs and rhythms and a nice break in the middle of the song. The original closing track, “The Seventh Trumpet,” is my favorite on the album as it showed most clearly the future ABR with a more progressive edge to the writing and the extended development in the instrumental section. The overactive drumming was distracting in the otherwise post-metal ambient mood being woven toward the end of the song.
This is the second re-recorded metalcore album that I am reviewing within a year. I catch wafts of a metalcore revival in the wind, but there are better ways to live out nostalgia than re-recording. I prefer the more mature writing of many of the metalcore bands with the developed musicianship where the re-recordings feel like putting new wine into old wineskins. The old recordings work better with the ambitious energy from the young band at that stage than the road-worn veterans.
In the end, I couldn’t get over the unfocused songwriting which was on display with this release, probably because I don’t have an emotional draw to the metalcore back in the day. Although “Thrill Seeker” did not resonate with me, I think that it is probably just what the nostalgic metalcore enthusiast would like. The performances from the band are on point and I think is a faithful re-recording of ABR’s debut with Jake on vocals. It is a true early career metalcore style that will resonate with those craving the nostalgia of the early metalcore days.
Rating: 6.5/10
Written by Sean Bailey
Tracklisting:
1 – Your Little Suburbia Is In Ruins
2 – Speech Impediment (feat. Adam Dutkiewicz)
3 – Endorphins
4 – Too Late For Roses
5 – Barbarian (feat. Josh McManness)
6 – The Reflective Property
7 – A Wish Full of Dreams
8 – Consumer
9 – A Shot Below the Belt
10 – Eve of the End
11 – The Seventh Trumpet
12 – Pride & Humility
August Burns Red is:
Jake Luhrs – vocals
JB Brubaker – lead guitar
Brent Rambler – rhythm guitar
Dustin Davidson – bass
Matt Greiner – drums
Release Date: January 24, 2025
Record Label: ABR Records
Discography:
Thrill Seeker (2005)
Messengers (2007)
Constellations (2009)
Leveler (2011)
August Burns Red Presents: Sleddin’ Hill (2012) [review]
Rescue & Restore (2013) [review]
Found in Far Away Places (2015) [review]
Phantom Anthem (2017)
Guardians (2020) [review]
Death Below (2023) [review]
Thrill Seeker – 20th Anniversary (2025)
Social Media: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Bandcamp
Video for Your Little Suburbia Is In Ruins