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August Burns Red 4 For Today 8 EP debut: Walking With Strangers 12 Live In Concert: As I Lay Dying 14

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AugustBurnsRed

August Burns RedConstellationsSolid State Records2009

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nown for their musical brutality and perfection in performance, August Burns Red has risen out of a sea of metal to make a run at the top spot in the gen-re. Though as kind and well dressed as they are you would never guess it if you saw them on the street.

Since their first full length release of Thrill Seeker in 2005 ABR has been knocking down the

walls of our boxes, allowing us to believe that music can sound as good live as it does on the album, that metal can be extremely technical yet appear simple, and all the while it can carry a strong messa-ge along with it. There is not an ABR track that doesn’t stand straight up in defiance against the norms of society; dream, to an over medicated popu-lation.

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You’re not going to get party anthems or a feel good summer sound-track from August Burns Red. When they capture your attention with their technicality and pre-cision, they proceed to use that platform with responsibility and humility.

Do you feel that Constellations is a big departure from Messengers?

Matt Greiner: Yes and no. I think so many things came into

fruition on Conste-llations. We’ve been touring for 8 months/year over the past 3 years through which we’ve all matured significantly as musicians. In addition, we’ve all grown significantly as people. I think both these aspects helped create a record that showcases an Au-gust Burns Red that might catch some people off guard. However, I’m confi-dent that Messengers and Thrill Seeker fans will thoroughly enjoy Constellations.

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For TodayBreaker

2010Facedown Records

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hen I sat down to write this interview that would later be conducted with Mattie Montgomery (Frontman) of For Today I wrote the questions in such a way, hoping to get some meat on Breaker (the new record), the meaning behind it and some solid life wisdom from Mattie. What I got was more like a five course meal. There is an overflow happening in Mattie’s life that has not only spilled, all over, onto this interview but also onto For Today’s August 31st release. What excites me most about Mattie’s fire, his influence, his passion, is that he is just another guy. He is me and he is you in relationship with the Lord. He is not here because he is qualified, he is here

because he is willing.

When I listen to your records, any of them and Breaker being no exception in the least, I am motivated. There is so much more than music going on here. What do you hope that listeners are taking away from your music?

Mattie Montgomery: A.W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. While writing the lyrics for this album, this was a resounding concept and point of hope for me: That the people listening to this album would think rightly about the God we serve.

What are For Today’s plans for the end of

Summer and into Fall?

Mattie Montgomery : The week the album comes out, we begin a full U.S. tour with Bleeding Through. After that, we are

going to be heading out on our first European tour ever! We’re so excited about all of these opportunities. It should be a good fall. We can’t wait to meet our Europe fans.

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EP debut

Walking With StrangersBuried Dead & Done

bursts of activity.

But, there’s also so-mething more here. I can’t put my finger on it, but these guys have gone beyond your run-of-the-mill metalcore with this release. Perhaps it’s the meaty break-downs or the gang vocals that show up from time to time. Perhaps it’s the band’s delving into technical death metal or the thick grooves that also make an appearance throughout the disc. Either way, Buried, Dead and Done is an impressive, diverse debut within a genre that’s long been stag-nate — I can’t wait to hear more from these guys in the future.

Iwas almost to the point where I was ready to write off listening to metalcore anymore, but then this disc by five dudes from Sweden showed up in the mail — and well, I’m not so sure I’m totally done with the genre. WALKING WITH STRANGERS debut EP, Buried, Dead and Done definitely con-tains your traditional metalcore trappings. There’s the requisite mid-range growls shifting to a more cleanly delivered shouts then shifting back to deeper, more guttural growls. Also the Swedish death metal influence in the guitar tones as the band jumps from burly riffs to melodic

Live in Concert

As I LayDyingThe Powerless

RISETour

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It is no wonder to me that As I lay Dying continues to sell out larger and larger venues every year, becoming one of the biggest bands in this scene. As I spoke with front man Tim Lambesis, one word kept coming to mind: dedication. I heard his dedication to creating a better world screaming in the background while his adopted son from Ethiopia played at their California home, and as Tim explained the new album title The Powerless Rise which seems to parallel the ideals of those such as Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King Jr. Tim’s dedication to quality and purpose comes across in these new tracks as he built a new studio in his house to focus solely on vocals so as to best get across the message within this new album. As you read I think you will begin to pick up on it as well. Five albums deep and

As I Lay Dying is not sitting back and taking anything for granted, rather they are striving to make themselves a better band and with their increasing popularity and platform they are sure that this album will carry a stronger message than ever.

I take a lot from the title, The Powerless Rise. Talk to us a bit about what The Powerless Rise means and what spe-cifically you had in mind when you wrote the lyrics from which the title is taken...

Tim Lambesis: It was taken from a song “Upside Down Kingdom” and a lot of the songs have backwards themes throughout the album. Simplicity is sometimes powerful or more worth putting our time into than the typically strong themes like material gain or success. It’s to really break life down and focus on the simpler things.

s far as influen-ces go, who have you pulled from in the past and present when writing for As I Lay Dying?

TL: Musically we tend to be very different. Typically we pull from my own life expe-riences first naturally which is closest to my heart and tend to be passionate about but beyond that, things that I’m reading. I tend to write as poetically as possible but there are definitely some philo-sophical influences. Musically speaking, I’m a metal head for sure so obviously our music is pretty intense so we kind of try to counteract that with the melodic. Not a lot of metal bands are that melodic. Our guitar player listens to a lot more melodic stuff than I do. He’s a big fan of Muse and some more classic rock, not that we sound like those bands but we try to incorporate those elements.

You guys are one of the biggest metal acts today, how do you stay humble as far as your faith goes and remember why you’re out here doing what you’re doing?

TL: I would say just looking at history of metal bands that we were fans of. There were these bands that had gold records at one point now they go out and can’t even fill a bar sized club. Just seeing what happens over time to those bands and knowing it can all go as fast as it came. I’m a metal head for sure so obviously our music is pretty intense so we kind of try to counteract that with the melodic. Nothing last forever and it doesn’t change who we are as peo-ple you know? It’s just an opportunity to do what we love. I think we’ll always be able to make a living doing this but a lot of bands aren’t smart about that and they waste their chance.

live in concert

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