August Burns Red has been sharing a variety of new material lately, from new versions of old songs to a System of a Down cover. Now the band is back with a new song called "Icarus" featuring bassist Dustin Davidson on clean vocals. "Icarus" and a handful of the material the band has been streaming lately will all be available on a new EP called Guardians Sessions out April 16.
"'Icarus' was a b-side from Guardians because it just didn't fit the vibe of the album," says Davidson. "I'm happy that our fans can hear it now because it's riffy and super fun to play on guitar. It's the first ABR song that I've sang on, and for fans of my side project, Best Case Scenario, I think you'll hear the influence sprinkled throughout this one."
"The Guardians Sessions EP was put together on the foundation of two songs: 'Standing in the Storm' and 'Icarus,'" added guitarist JB Brubaker. "Those songs were recorded in September of 2019, when we were finishing up our album Guardians. Both tracks got cut from the record, as we had too much material and they were the black sheep of the group. When all touring was shut down in March of 2020, we began working on a couple of cover songs and re-imagined versions of some songs from Guardians. Those songs were recorded in the summer of 2020. We wanted to be productive with our downtime and work on a project that would be fun for both us and our fans."
Pre-orders for Guardians Sessions are available here, and the track list for the EP runs as follows:
- "Standing in the Storm"
- "Icarus"
- "Chop Suey!"
- "Westworld"
- "Paramount" (Reprise)
- "Extinct by Instinct (Reprise)"
