US-based Christian metalcore quintet AUGUST BURNS RED have issued the following update:

"We are very sorry to announce that August Burns Red will be canceling our upcoming shows in Turkey (Istanbul) and (Israel) Tel Aviv due to commitments regarding out upcoming June 21st album release in the US. Our apologies go out to all the awesome fans who were planning on coming to these shows and the many that already bought tickets, and to the promoters who worked so hard to make them happen. We haven't canceled a show since 2005 so this has been a real hard thing for us to accept. We were really looking forward to these shows and plan on making it up to you as soon as possible."

August Burns Red are poised to release their new album, Leveler, available in stores and online June 21st – and are excited to reveal the tracklisting and atypical cover art.

The album will be available in both regular and deluxe editions - a first for ABR. Explains JB Brubaker: "For the bonus tracks on the deluxe editions, we were able to collaborate with some close friends and amazing musicians. Our friends in the post rock band BELLS did an amazing job reworking our song 'Pangaea' and making it into something completely different. It sounds absolutely huge and we love it. Our close friend, Zach Veilleux, a virtuoso piano player, shredded a piano rendition of our song 'Boys Of Fall'. Dustin and I recorded an acoustic version of our song 'Internal Cannon' with some mariachi flare and a ridiculous guitar solo courtesy of Jason Suecof. Finally, we threw in one of the original midi tracks from the Leveler writing process to give everyone an idea of how our songs sound before they get recorded. It's pure 1988 Nintendo bliss."

While August Burns Red have never succumbed to the artistic trends in metal album covers, Leveler represents an even larger departure than fans have seen on the band's previous albums. The artwork, created by artist Jordan Crane, brings a striking comic book flair that the band wanted the artwork to encompass.

"What we were going for with the cover was an image of a house that had been destroyed by a natural disaster," says Brubaker. "The cover depicts a house that has been leveled by something like a hurricane. You can see the trees in the background are bent sideways from enduring strong winds. There are a bunch of chickens in the foreground who have come out of hiding to continue on with their daily activities. The chickens represent the calm after the storm. They represent life and the promise of a new day. The art has a real indie-rock vibe to it, which I like because while we're obviously not an indie band, we're not a typical metal band either."

For Leveler, August Burns Red re-teamed with super producer Jason Suecof, the man behind the board on their 2009 breakout, Constellations, which landed at #24 on the Billboard Top 200 and has sold more than 90,000 copies. The result is an album that pushes the band's sonic boundaries in every direction, yet emerges as an unquestionably heavier album than its predecessor. It's a game-changer, for ABR, and for fans of hard rock everywhere.

Leveler tracklisting:

'Empire'

'Internal Cannon'

'Divisions'

'Cutting The Ties'

'Pangaea'

'Carpe Diem'

'740 Nights'

'Salt & Light'

'Poor Millionaire'

'1/16/2011'

'Boys Of Fall'

'Leveler'

Bonus Tracks for Deluxe Edition:

'Internal Cannon' (acoustic)

'Pangaea' (performed by Bells)

'Boys Of Fall' (performed by Zachary Veilleux)

'Empire' (midi)