AUGUST BURNS RED
Home
[Solid State]
Score: 7
Stream: “Back Burner”

There are enough bands out there that have amazing albums, but suck live. August Burns Red is not one of them, luckily. Instrumentally, they sound just as good as any of their recordings. Vocally, things are still very good. You’ve got to keep in mind how much oxygen and energy it takes to do this job live on stage, as opposed to doing “takes” at a studio. Considering all this, Jake Luhrs does quite a good job. At times, he does growl lower than on the albums, as well as speak in a hardcore fashion, but otherwise sounds very close to his recordings. With the exception of Fragile After All, a couple tracks from each ABR album make an appearance on Home. Fans should be able to find at least one favorite from each album here. You have “Back Burner”, “The Eleventh Hour”, “Meddler”, “A Shot Below The Belt”…the band was good about grabbing a little something something from each release. When deciding if this is a worthy purchase or not, one must ask their self if live recordings are their thing. If not, then there isn’t much reason to pick this one up. Of course, there is a DVD we didn’t get to review; it might be awesome for all we know. (NL)