August Burns Red (@abrband) and Online Revolution Design team up to spread a little rockin’ holiday cheer!

Popular Christian-Metalcore act August Burns Red has released an animated music video for the single “Jingle Bells”  off of their new Christmas-themed album ‘Sleddin’ Hill’. After the jump check out a quick rundown we did of the new release and see if this deal is worth the price!

 

Spoiler Alert! The holidays are fast approaching! To some, this means family, presents and holiday cheer. To others, it means traffic, terrible attitudes, and dry ham. But to me, Christmas is all about holiday cover songs! It is incredibly difficult to take a song that someone has already written, preformed, and presumably made famous and make it your own. Fortunately for us, August Burns Red are masters of this craft. A few years back these boys from Pennsylvania covered the old standard “Carol of the Bells” to rave reviews. The cover even went on to be used in a American Dad  episode!

I could spend all day talking to you about ABR’s original “metal” Christmas song “Flurries” or how they were able to squeeze blast beats AND a solid breakdown into a cover of “Frosty the Snow Man.” But thats not why I’m writing today. I’m writing today about “Jingle Bells.” These guys did an amazing job on this song, but what really impresses me more is the way Online Revolution Design put this song to video. This has got to be some of the best animation I’ve ever seen as the song starts out with sleigh bells, piano, and light drums that match up really well visually to a child decked out in red. Though you never see the child’s face or expressions, the song is able to imply a sense of child-like wonder as he looks at his calendar and realizes it’s Christmas morning giving an almost heart warming emotion  to see the audio and video synch up. As the child becomes overjoyed, the electric guitar riffs out the opening lines in a not so classic fashion. I’m not sure if James Lord Piepont (the composer of “Jingle Bells.” You just got LEARNED!!) intended on his song coming out distorted through huge stacks but I sure as hell like it!

The boy in the video receives a new sled and immediately takes to his local sledding hill for a few runs. As the boy trudges up the hill for the first time the bass guitar gets a little bit of the spotlight. Dustin Davidson (@dustinABR) impresses with his jazzy bass line as the kid finally reaches the top of the hill for his run. A few more guitar solos, break downs and sled runs follow and we reach the end of the video.

I’ve been a fan of August Burns Red for a pretty decent amount of time. I’ve even seen them live during the Christmas season (I believe it was December 17, 2009 at House of Blues in New Orleans. They opened for Underoath.) The band is incredible live and incredibly nice and approachable off stage. I don’t care if their music isn’t your cup of tea, go buy this record and support this and all bands that play actual instruments. And while I’m at it, go check out Online Revolution Design’s website. Every single video on their site is amazingly well animated and extremely impressive.

Check out August Burns Red’s website HERE.

Check out Online Revolution Design’s website HERE.

Buy August Burns Red’s new album Sleddin Hill: A Holiday Album HERE.