Leveler is the fourth studio album by American melodic metalcore band August Burns Red, released on June 21, 2011 through Solid State Records. Leveler sold around 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 11 on The Billboard 200 chart. As with their previous album, a special, Christmas 7 inch vinyl single will be released with the album through their old label, CI Records, and will be entitled "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." The vinyl is limited to 1000 copies, 400 which are gold colored, 400 which are white, and 200 Read more on Last.fm.
This review will be the hardcore equivalent of Paste Magazine’s rip on Manchester Orchestra, because “Leveler” is, more or less, a timid rip of Between the Buried and Me’s “Colors”. It’s a thinly-veiled hat tip to a band who August Burns Red has long cited as one of their primary influences. Before this album, you could hear similar scales and guitar work, but that’s to be expected when you’re playing somewhat-technical metal. Here, the song structure and chord progressions are ridiculous attempts at being “epic” in the vein of BTBAM, but the talent isn’t there in the rhythm and vocal sections to make it’s work. I used to just think ABR was trite; now I’m embarrassed for them. There’s about two minutes of the interesting modern hardcore that the band has shown they’re capable of (see: “Thrill Seeker”), and those times make the rest of the record seem so much worse.