AUGUST BURNS RED's eleventh album is heavier than the one before it, and frontman Jake Luhrs says that was engineered rather than stumbled into.
Speaking to Tony Evans of Australia's Metal Roos, Luhrs contrasted "Season Of Surrender" with 2023's "Death Below". "That record, 'Death Below', felt very dark and gloomy. And this one is just very passionate and emotionally driven. And I think what we did was we set up our breakdowns to really pay off."
The band treated impact as a construction problem. "We want it to be an experience when you feel that breakdown hit. So what is something that we can do? How can we make this moment special before all hell breaks loose? And so I think it gives that feeling, so when it gets heavy, it gets really heavy feeling, because there's this whole thing before that we're just kind of getting positioned to do it."
Asked to describe what AUGUST BURNS RED are at this point, he answered without hedging. "Honestly, I feel like we're a technical, progressive, American metalcore band, and lyrically I think we've always been that band that tries to shine some hope or dig a little deeper into something of substance, something that carries a little weight versus just maybe a very basic topic or formulaic style of writing."
The reason he still cares is personal rather than commercial. "What is my favorite part is that it comes from my heart. It's who I am. It's a part of me. I'm genuinely getting the opportunity to share my life with people who listen, and my hope is that they can resonate with my stories or my experiences and use it for good in their life."
"Season Of Surrender" was released on June 5 via Fearless Records and features guest appearances from THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA's Mike Hranica, POLARIS's Jamie Hails and MAKE THEM SUFFER.
Luhrs framed the album earlier this year as a statement of position rather than evolution. "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," he told Rock Sound. "I am a hardcore supporter of bands creating new sounds. But for us, we have our unique identity. We are who we are, and we just want to make it better."
The band's record includes multiple top 10 placements on the Billboard 200, some 600 million streams, and Grammy nominations for "Best Metal Performance" in 2016 and 2018.
Source: blabbermouth.net