Phantom Anthem

With a reputation for writing some of the most sophisticated, technically advanced music metalcore has to offer, August Burns Red are also one of the genre’s most prolific bands. On their seventh album in just 12 years, the Pennsylvania quintet turn up the guitar heroics as lead shredder JB Brubaker taps out gleaming, melodic solos on “Coordinates” and “The Frost.” Meanwhile, classically informed instrumental passages give way to colossal breakdowns and chunky staccato riffs on “King of Sorrow” and “Hero of the Half Truth.”

The veteran metalcore unit's eighth studio long-player, Phantom Anthem sees August Burns Red deliver a balanced, brutal, and almost relentlessly efficient 11-track set that deftly utilizes every inch of sonic space to its advantage.