Band Line Up 2025
August Burns Red remain one of the most popular and dependable names in modern metal.” – Billboard August Burns Red is likely the only metal act ever described as “thrillingly empathetic” (Kerrang!). It’s a testament to the ferocious band’s ability to recognize and connect with the mixture of brokenness and hope found in their audience and within themselves.
A hard-working collective with a shockingly stable lineup for the vast majority of their career, August Burns Red pour every ounce of themselves into their songs. Atmospheric, riff-laden, aggressive bursts of controlled chaos, filled with shifting time signatures and tempos, deliver confessional, self-reflective, and authentic emotion. Songs like “White Washed,” “Marianas Trench,” “Invisible Enemy,” and “Paramount” are undeniable anthems.
Tour stops with Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, and Bring Me the Horizon; several major international hard rock festivals (Rock Am Ring, Download, and Aftershock, to name a few); and the Vans Warped Tour are among the destinations around the world to witness
ABR’s live prowess.
Massive headlining treks celebrating 10-year anniversaries for Constellations and Leveler demonstrated the enduring relevance of the band’s catalog, nearly 20 years into ABR’s storied career. In recent years, Revolver Magazine included Constellations in their 10 Essential Metalcore Albums From 2009, alongside similarly consequential records from A Day To Remember and Architects.
2020’s Guardians debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hard Music, Rock Albums, and Vinyl Albums charts. Revolver, who put the band on their cover the same year, declared August Burns Red “embrace the pain so well.” It’s a truth never more evident than on Death Below, their stunning ninth studio album.
The twice-GRAMMY-nominated metal band from Amish Country (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to be exact) indulge New Wave Of American Heavy Metal and simultaneously summons a sound that’s often dark, oppressive, and black metal-ish bleak.
At a point in their career where most bands bend over backward to become more “accessible,” August Burns Red double down on their sound, following up the punishingly heavy Guardians with an even more extreme record. Album ten is both thick with a dense atmosphere and very
pissed-off.
Luhrs, guitarists JB Brubaker and Brent Rambler, bassist Dustin Davidson, and drummer Matt Greiner sound gloriously unhinged. “This is probably our most progressive album,” Rambler reasons. “Guardians was a bit more streamlined in structure than this one.”
The writing process began during the onset of the worldwide pandemic. “It was a dark time, and I didn’t feel like writing unlifting melodies,” Brubaker explains. “The material I wrote came out darker, more ‘metal,’ so to speak, and Dustin, who writes a lot of stuff with me, was on the same
page.”
That isn’t to say Death Below isn’t catchy, memorable, or enchanting. Recorded off-and-on over two years with longtime producers Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland, Death Below encompasses the varied strengths of the band’s past with an unapologetic density and
overwhelming dramatic power.
Death Below also boasts guest appearances from ABR allies Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage), Spencer Chamberlain (Underoath), Jason Richardson (All That Remains), and JT Cavey (ERRA). Songs like “The Cleansing,” “Ancestry,” “Backfire,” and “Reckoning” will undoubtedly take their place among fan-favorite ABR tracks and will certainly devastate in the live setting.
“It’s getting difficult for the members of August Burns Red to keep one-upping themselves,” marveled Billboard shortly before Guardians arrived. With Death Below, they emerge victorious again.
LINEUP
Jake Luhrs – Vocals
JB Brubaker – Guitar
Brent Rambler – Guitar
Dustin Davidson – Bass
Matt Greiner – Drums
