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When you have been doing this as long as August Burns Red have, you know what you’re about better than anybody else. For the last 20 years, the band have stood at the forefront of metalcore. Inspiring, motivating, and encouraging those who have followed them whilst striving to stay fresh and new to remain there.

But in that pursuit, things can get caught in the maelstrom, making the whole purpose of this seem a bit blurry and lost. Much of this comes from forgetting that it is okay to just be yourself. It’s okay to be proud of who you have always been. You are allowed to let the steps already left in the sand guide you as you look forwards.

And in remembering that they are August Burns Red  – always have been and always will be – the quintet have never felt more connected to each other and to their output.

“This band has never been as unified as we are right now, which I think is telling of how we are currently,” vocalist Jake Luhrs doubles down. “I think we all just want to be August Burns Red. There is a sound and an era of metalcore that we are a part of, and we wanted to write a record that basically states that this is who we are, and we’re not going to change for anybody.

“Bands get inspired to change their sound, or maybe a trend or something is moving in the water they want to try, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I am a hardcore supporter of bands creating new sounds. I think that that’s beautiful, because it’s their own unique identity. But for us, we have our unique identity. We are who we are, and we just want to make it better. So let’s just write a heavy, aggressive, passionate, modern August Burns Red record.”

And they have done exactly that with ‘Season of Surrender’, a record that is as quintessential as it is staggering. Bludgeoning, wholehearted and thoughtful in all of the ways that August Burns Red have established themselves, but turned up to 11 and then some. It is heavy music at its most luxurious, thrilling and undeniable.

THE SOUND

In the way that many a band will hear something and want to put their own stamp upon it, August Burns Red have simply never functioned like that. To look over their discography is to see a band that has finetuned the things that make them tick to the sharpest point possible. Instead of spreading themselves too thin, they have crafted a sonic selfhood that is synonymous with them. People expect a certain level of quality when it comes to their output, and that’s a pretty proud position to be in.

So when it came to figuring out exactly how they would further cement everything they are for ‘Season of Surrender’, it was just a case of following the same intuition that has always guided them home.

 “We don’t think in the way of, ‘Oh, there’s a new sound, so let’s do that sound’. I think what we do is go, ‘There’s a sound, but we have had our sound’. So, let’s go deeper, you know? Let’s get more creative with our own sound. Let’s explore different ideas with that sound.

 “Because metalcore is a beautiful and amazing genre of music, and the way that it has grown is insane. What we have is special, and there is so much more to uncover. So, if you want to take the journey, pursue and dig deep as a band, then let’s do it together.”

To have this sort of drive so deep into their career is one thing, but to put into practice the things that have allowed ABR to go that extra mile is a whole other kettle of fish. Take guitarist Dustin Davidson, who, despite being a real whizz with his instrument, searched out a guitar teacher to help him add even more strings to his bow. Jake himself, despite having one of the most formidable voices in the genre, picked up additional vocal lessons with David Benites. This pursuit of more, of further development, of the want and need to be bigger, bolder, and better, is a testament to the commitment within the band’s ranks, but even more so to the reward it reaps in the songs.

Even in terms of Jake’s presence in the studio for recording his parts, he were locked in for a solid two months rather than his usual two and a half weeks stint. As obvious a sign of commitment to the cause as you can possibly get.

“We really wanted certain things to feel very tight and polished, and others to feel really raw and messy, so we went through this really thorough process on this run,” Jake states proudly. “For myself, I wanted to just write the best record I could with the most powerful message I could, because I think that that’s just such a big part of August Burns Red for me. It’s not about the tricks that we can do, but about the emotional connection that we can give to the listener.”

THE LYRICS

In the same way he worked on his technique to showcase the best of his ability, Jake has also spent the last few years working on other factors so he can be the best version of himself, in heart, soul, and head. It’s the sort of move that is so much more than booking a class or trying another take. It takes a lot to face ourselves and work out what is affecting our position within this life, and he hasn’t taken any of it lightly.

 “If we want to change the world, we have to start with ourselves,” Jake admits candidly. “We need to work on who we are as people first before we try to make an impact. I’ve gone through some really difficult, challenging stuff in my life, and I started looking at my habits and how I internalised the outside world and the relationships around me. I started to process how I saw success and all these different things in my life, and I ended up letting go of many of my beliefs. I broke a lot of bad habits, too.

“If you want to be the best version of yourself, there’s stuff in your life you’re going to have to get out, and it’s probably the shit that you hold closest to your heart, to be honest. And so that’s what this record really is about. It’s from the perspective of someone who struggles with self-sabotage. I wanted to show that you can give something up or look at it and that your life is going to change dramatically because of it.”

It’s heavy stuff, but when you’re writing about life, unfortunately, heaviness is part and parcel. It’s why there are moments on ‘Season Of Surrender’ that focus on everything from the act of betrayal to the experience of depression. There are mentions of addiction and self-hatred. These are all things that are not mutually exclusive to Jake’s expedition through this life, and that’s what makes them even more vital to talk about.

The result, despite the depths to which things plummet and the supposed hopelessness that comes with dealing with such things, is ultimately one built on hope. Because the potential to be great, to be happy, to be everything we want to be is not as far away as it seems. We have everything at our disposal to feel exactly how we want to feel. Still, it is the baggage, the extracurricular activities, the blocks in the road that make it difficult, sometimes impossible, to achieve the bare minimum that humanity should be allowed.

 “I don’t think that the construct, that we are built to work a job and to make money, is real,” Jake continues. “I don’t think that’s what we were intended for. I think we’re all artists who can express ourselves, each with our own unique style, and that looks different for every single person.

“But if you’re pushing everything down inside, then like you’re not going to live the life that you were intended with the uniqueness that you have. That’s what I want for you and for every fucking person, because that’s what this world needs. So the goal was to share a message of willingness to love yourself in an uncomfortable way, so that you could progress and succeed and flourish.”

It’s an interesting position to be in, especially when you consider what life in a band has to be in 2026. The desire to push away from the material is always there, but the head of capitalism is constantly rearing. Because without the sales tickets, merch, vinyl, et al, you’re not going to get to live the dream for very long. 

For Jake, that reality is pretty scary. That all of this could disappear if the wind blows in a certain way. And when you put all your worth into things rather than yourself, it’s a slippery slope back to self-loathing. But it takes questioning everything he has done, everything the band has become, and everything it may be in the future, and realising that it is but one component of what makes him who he is, to understand just how powerful he is within all of this. And then that power will always transfer into the art.

 “I had to get away from that hustle mentality. When you let go of that thing, and you just say, ‘Hey, I get to do this, and I’m going to create, but it’s not going to control me’, you have this freedom. I realised that everything was meaningless, and then when everything became nothing, it gave me everything, because I was free, you know, instead of chasing all this stuff. By letting go of that, I just felt so much more like I could be myself. Whatever happens will happen, and I don’t have control over that, but I get to greet it and experience it. That’s what matters.”

THE TITLE

Despite the subject matter that filtered into the record being very much about the surrendering of certain emotions, habits, and ways of being, it wasn’t proposed that such a sentiment be the thing that umbrellas these songs until very late in the process.

But it seems fitting that the idea of ‘Season of Surrender’ came after Jake had gone through so much soul-searching and life-altering, because it then made the process that had come before it even more real. The idea of surrendering something is difficult. It’s not to be taken lightly. In the same way as releasing a Pokémon back in the wild, you’d better be damn sure you’re not going to want it back, because it’s gone for good. And the season points to the process, in this case, that being the creation of a record.

So, putting those two things together, Jake wanted to be sure that such a change occurring during something that means so much to him was not only worth it, but that he was completely sure this was the path he now wanted to venture on.

“Everything is linked to your life in so many different facets,” he admits. “And this season, it was hard, because you’re challenging your thought process, your way of life, the parts of you that are your own worst critic. And in surrendering them, you’re all of a sudden in a desert and thinking, ‘Shit, I don’t know what is going to come from this now’. I know what safety looks like because of this old way of living, but now that I’m going to destroy that and kill it, and I don’t know what the new way of living is. That’s a vulnerable place to be, and it’s probably the bravest place I’ve ever been.”

It wasn’t actually Jake that proposed it to be the title, though, no matter how much he had gone through in experiencing those words and keeping them close to his heart. It was more down to guitarist JB Brubaker, who kept on bringing it up and putting it in place. For Jake, it was a sort of validity that you get when you realise you’re not going through this alone. He felt seen in his journey toward betterment by the people who were the most important and would also be the ones keeping him in check as the years rolled on. That also extends to the community that has blossomed around the band as well.

“It’s cool when you have a passion for something, and then somebody else is like, ‘Hey, man, I think this is cool’. We’ve spent years trying to encourage people through our lyrics, and we love being musicians and our music scene. And I just think that the record overall really speaks to who we are as a band. I do think it’s a statement that we want to be the best metalcore band we can be, and it’s just letting people know that we love you and we’re just going to continue to make things better and better as much as we possibly can.”

THE COLLABORATORS

As much as Jake loves what August Burns Red is capable of, that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of what is happening around them in the heavy music scene. His love for all of this runs deep, and being able to share in the power of metalcore with others who feel just as strongly remains one of the greatest honours this band has bestowed on him.

That is evident in the fact that ‘Season of Surrender’ features three guests that perfectly encapsulate what is so vibrant, vicious and volatile about this genre of music. On opening assault ‘Legions’, The Devil Wears Prada’s Mike Hranica lets his iconic bark loose, the sensational chugs of ‘Sonic Salvation’ are bolstered by the grittiness of Jamie Hails, of Polaris fame, and the melodic crescendo of ‘Cerebral Malfunction’ is made all the more savage and spine-tingling thanks to the two-pronged mastery of Make Them Suffer’s Alex Reade and Sean Harmanis.

All three masters of their craft, for Jake, having them be a part of this record is one thing. It’s another thing to know that he was able to give them free rein and that they were going to enhance it tenfold.

“Not to get like sappy, but we worked really, really hard on this, and then here are all these guys that appreciate us or respect what we’ve done wanting to be a part of it,” Jake grins. “But even more so, it’s just cool to cut the bullshit and be honest because we’re all here together. Like when I was Facetiming Alex and Sean, I said, ‘Look, to be honest with you, I need to know I’m a fan of your band’, and I think Alex said something like the first song she ever screamed was ‘Composure’. It was one of those moments that I thought was really cool. To be able to say, ‘Hey, I like your art and want to create more art with you’ just feels so beautiful.”

THE FUTURE

The thing about August Burns Red is that, no matter what, they are going to keep on swinging. Despite everything they have already done, there is so much more they still want to uncover, play with, and retrace when the time is right. It all comes down to the sheer love and adoration they have not just for what the band is, but also for the potential that always sits at its heart. People come and go, but August Burns Red will forever remain. And there is a real comfort within that.

“We have been through so much shit together that it’s like an unbreakable bond,” Jake concludes. “And then it’s like, ‘What do we want to do next? We just want to show them what we got. If you don’t like the record or what we’re doing, cool. That’s totally good. There’s so much great music in our music scene. There are so many amazing bands that do shit well. But we are going to do our thing, and we will do it well, no matter what.”