ALBUM REVIEW: SEASON OF SURRENDER BY AUGUST BURNS RED
Reviewed by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
Release date 5 June 2026
Lancaster, Pennsylvania band August Burns Red is about to release ‘Season Of Surrender’, and it will be their eleventh full-length album. The band: Jake Luhrs (vocals), JB Brubaker (guitar), Brent Rambler (guitar), Dustin Davidson (bass), and Matt Grenier (drums) are heading into a new phase of their recording and touring lives with a much more powerful drum-driven sound that effortlessly integrates breakdowns with harder and heavier sonic intent in their instrumental and vocal work.
August Burns Red formed in 2003, and the band is now coming into that space where they don’t really care too much anymore about musical trends as their fan base is established, and they are comfortable as a band. They know what they are doing, and ‘Season Of Surrender’ is the sound of a band full of confidence. They have reinvigorated their sound, and it is made evident on the first track with the unbridled aggression of ‘Legions’ (feat.The Devil Wears Prada’s Mike Hranica). The album starts with a sonic hardcore bang!
‘The Nameless’ rips so hard, and it’s a throwback to August Burns Red’s signature sound from their older music. The track is a great evolution as it stretches the band’s instrument control, especially to the guitar solo at the end, and it is among some of the coolest guitar you will hear. Then, August Burns Red show their heavy technical instrument mastery in ‘Behemoth’. It is raw and heavy, but also refined rather than a drastic departure from their established sound. The rollicking heavy metal ride that is ‘Den Of Thieves’ follows, it’s big and fast in its instrumentation and vocals, cue those machine gun drums going off.
The next two tracks have collaborations that are really interesting. ‘Sonic Salvation’ (feat. Jamie Hails of Polaris) is a fun track with huge breakdowns and fist-in-the-air choruses. It’s a cathartic song that speaks directly to the frustrated and disaffected. ‘Cerebral Malfunction’ (feat. Make Them Suffer) is an album highlight with those melodic metal ribbons of sound woven through the mix. It really is sonically stunning!
The instrumental ‘Tear Of The Clouds’ at 42 seconds is truly beautiful with its delicate guitar melody and slightly spooky atmospherics. Then, the drums and guitars cut back in for ‘Whisper Like Splinters’ as the vocals rage into the hardcore universe. The bassline is going off, and underpins the rhythm that allows the melodic guitar riffs to take off. The following track ‘S.O.S’ has electric guitar squalls, and the driving groove frames the hard-hitting vocals.
August Burns Red keeps the pace going on ‘New Horizons’ as they call for “resilience” in the face of feeling “lost”. The song is forged by the idea of the “pain of millions”, and the ability to heal. The guitar at the end is fantastic. The last song on the album is ‘Forged By Failure’, and it is a six minute slow burn as the chiming electric guitar frames the vocal rage before the drums kick in with a heavy bassline groove. The breakdowns into delicate guitar through the track are fabulous, as are the drum and bass interludes.
‘Season Of Surrender’ is a powerful album that sees August Burns Red cement their sonic identity as a heavier hardcore band while staying true to the band’s roots as metalcore trailblazers.
