Season of Surrender - August Burns Red
Season of Surrender marks the eleventh album from the Lancaster, Pennsylvania boys (a source of semi-local pride, as a person who lives about an hour outside of Lancaster), and they’re not holding back any punches. I’ve been a fan of the band since the Messengers era (almost 20 years!), and I’ve sworn by the fact that both Messengers and Constellations are tied for their best work, but with Season of Surrender, I feel a new dark horse has come along to possibly win it all. While both of those previous records are incredible in their own right, I feel like a lot of praise for them is clouded by nostalgia (me included). That’s not to take away from the tremendous effort put into those records, what the songs mean for myself and others, or how captivating they were, but rather to say the quiet part out loud. Season of Surrender has plenty of strengths that put it higher up on my list compared to the past several ABR releases, and many of those strengths are what put it in the upper echelon of albums from the band. This is a must-listen for any long-time August Burns Red fans!
This album is easily the heaviest August Burns Red record to date. Jake’s screams are the best they have sounded since their 2007-2010 era, with them sounding visceral and tapping into a more Deathcore approach occasionally. I was pleased to hear his vocals kick up a notch here, as I felt they were sounding tired and burned out on the past two releases. Aside from the vocals, the drumming steps out of the typical Metalcore heaviness several times, with Matt playing double-bass at the end of “Legions” with a speed and ferocity I have not heard from him before, further leaning into that Deathcore sound. Even with the addition of clean vocals on “Cerebral Malfunction” (with Make Them Suffer featured on the track), the entire album feels like it’s reaching into darker depths than any of their previous releases. I’ve also always found the band to write very technical parts, but this album has a level of technicality that sometimes reminds me of Rings of Saturn or Born of Osiris (“The Nameless” is a track that comes to mind). Deathcore and Metalcore aren’t the only genres on display here, though, with the band pulling influence from Death Metal, Punk, and Technical Death Metal (just to name a few genres).
If you’re looking for a little sampling of what to expect, here are three tracks I suggest checking out right away! “Legions” is the first track of the album, and it’s heavy in all the right ways, blasting the metaphorical glass out of any windows around you upon pressing play. Mike (from The Devil Wears Prada) has a bit of a truncated feature on this track unfortunately, but it’s complementary to the song and doesn’t distract you. This is also the track with the incredible double-kick playing by Matt toward the end of the song. “Behemoth” was one of the lead singles for the album, and I really enjoyed the flow of the song, and the breakdown was especially captivating. “Sonic Salvation” has a wicked guitar solo and guest vocals from Jamie Hail (of Polaris) that are an excellent fit for not only the track, but the ABR sound in general.
Season of Surrender is more focused than past releases, with no real breaks or interludes mid-song pulling from other genres. I personally always loved those moments, but I know some people had issues with the consistency of them doing this. One of the album’s greatest strengths is its ability to pull from all eras of the band, making it feel like a blend of everything that has worked in the past for them, without any of the fluff. With this release, the band continues to maintain their status as one of the most consistent Metalcore bands (or Metal bands in general) for 20 years. Even when they put out a record that is “different” or doesn’t jive with everyone, it’s still typically better than the majority of what is in the scene at the time. Looking to the future, I’d love the band to continue to explore this heavier, darker sound, as well as continue to feature their peers on tracks, so long as it doesn’t distract them from the core mission: making damn good Metalcore music for everyone.