Following two monstrous years that saw AUGUST BURNS RED release multiple albums – 2011’s Leveler and 2012’s holiday album, Sleddin’ Hill – headline tours of North and South America, Europe, Japan, Australia and more, the Manheim, PA-based quintet is back at it. Beginning next week the band will hit the studio to start recording their fifth full-length album (holiday releases notwithstanding), due out later this year.

“2012 turned out to be quite intense for us from a touring standpoint,” says guitarist JB Brubaker. “We did more traveling than we had ever previously done in our career and after three straight months on the road to end the year I think we were all ready to come home and shift into writing/recording mode. Now that the writing is complete we are all itching to get started with the actual tracking.”

Eschewing the trend towards big-name producers, ABR has opted to keep in the family for the forthcoming effort, reteaming with Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland of Atrium Audio – the same hometown studio where the band recorded last year’s fan-favorite holiday album, Sleddin’ Hill. The forthcoming album promises to be AUGUST BURNS RED’s most adventurous and exciting work to date – no small feat for a band that has constantly reinvigorated the genre over the course of its career.

“This new record will push the boundaries of our genre more than we ever have before,” Brubaker continues excitedly. “We set out to write a record where every song stands out from the last. There is a lot of ground covered here and a ton of meat to this album. It’s full of odd metered rhythms and breakdowns, unexpected twists and turns, and some of our most technical riffing to date. Each of us have parts that make our heads spin and we have had to practice like crazy to get some of this stuff together. I know we always say this, but this will be our most ambitious album yet.”

The band was recently announced as a mainstage act on this summer’s Vans Warped Tour, marking their third appearance on the venerated annual event, where they were last seen in 2011 performing in support of Leveler.

Already among the most respected acts in the genre, AUGUST BURNS RED solidified their status further with the June 2011 release of their fourth studio album, Leveler, which rocketed to the top of the Billboard charts – debuting at #11 on the Billboard 200 in addition to entering the charts as the #1 Hard Rock album and #2 Rock album. Adding to the stellar debut is the incredible durability and staying power Leveler has displayed, having become the band’s fastest selling album to date by a significant margin.

With four successful albums under their belts and the as-of-yet untitled fifth due out later this year, AUGUST BURNS RED have successfully earned veteran status. One of the leading forces in the modern metal scene, the Manheim, PA-based quintet has breathed new life into the metalcore genre over the course of their almost decade-long career, successfully transitioning from shake-up-the-field upstarts to one of the biggest names worldwide in the genre.