We recently sat down with Jake Luhrs, lead vocalist of August Burns Red, to discuss the band’s new album, Seasons of Surrender, the stories and themes behind its songs, and what continues to drive the band more than twenty years into their career.
Words by Tanita Hingerty | June 04, 2026
It’s a very exciting time for August Burns Red. The New album “Seasons of Surrender” is out on the 5th of June! What can we expect from the album?
Jake – Right off the bat, if you like August Burns Red, I think you’re gonna like the record. I think what to expect is just a very modern-day high-energy, emotionally driven, aggressive and technical record; we spent a lot of time really focusing on the direction and the path that we wanted to go on as musicians. We’ve been around for twenty years, this is the tenth record, and you always have conversations about the direction that you can go in, and when you have the opportunity to write a record, you have a blank canvas and you really can just do whatever you want so we have the conversation “Do we want to jump outside of the box of what we have been doing or who we are? Or do we want to adhere to what’s the sound that everybody likes?” or whatever and you can do all that. Those are really external things, but then you know for us we were like “Let’s write the best ABR record we can”.
We’ve worked very hard to establish ourselves in the position that were in, we have an amazing fanbase and you know we like where we are as a band and there’s so much music out there now too, so if you don’t like August Burns Red… that’s okay… there’s so much great amazing music out there you’d be attracted to, so for us we really wanted to look internally and dig deeper into who August Burns Red is and the roots of the band and really showcase the progression that we’ve made as a band but also as individual artists and I think we’ve accomplished that.
Tanita – What do you feel makes this album different from your previous releases?
I would say the intentionality behind the songwriting, the nuances of creating little sections of each song and really combing through those, digesting them, flushing them out, it’s almost like surgery; in a sense where we’re like – let’s really dig a bit deeper on this part or this section and there’s sections we rewrote three or four different times and that’s not usual for us. This record is so special we wanted to stick to our roots but really showcase the progression of what we’ve learned and experienced in life I think that it’s more precise in the song structure and how we wanted to write the songs, I think its more emotionally driven lyrically. It’s not cut and paste type of topics, we really took a microscope and looked at every word and sentence and made sure that it was what we wanted to convey and that can be exhausting but so fruitful when you’re like “Man we’ve found it, we’ve got the line that we want there, we have the message that we’re looking to share” and I think that for me I definitely did some different styles of vocals on this record that I’ve never done before so like at the end of Den of Thieves there’s like this melodic yell-scream that I’ve never done it that way.
There’s a really, really low scream in Legions at this massive breakdown, and we’ve never written a breakdown that big and that heavy and I’ve never screamed that low before. I actually had to invite my vocal coach, David Benites into the process because I felt that there was more we could get out of me, and I learned a lot about technique because I’m a very emotionally driven vocalist but there’s so much that you can do if you have a technique and vision casting but I really think that it’s a modern metalcore record.
Clearly I’m biased, but I feel like it’s a great album for 2026, if you like metalcore music you’re going to vibe on it. It has this intensity in the beginning of the album, and this aggression; it’s just nonstop, and then it lightens up a little bit with Cerebral Malfunction, and we have Alex from Make Them Suffer who just displays such an angelic….. I mean, every time people ask me about her, I’m just like, I am blown away by how she performs like she’s a real singer. I don’t see myself as a real singer; I scream, I don’t sing, and just watching her in the booth was so cool.
Lyrically, yes, we’ve always been known to write lyrics that talk about struggle that have encouragement and hope within them, but there was a lot of intentionality behind the topics, and I’ve experienced a lot of them; it came from a place of me looking back at my life and how messy I am as a human, how broken things in my life have been but then also how beautiful the process of growth is and how you can take this messiness and make it good.
I’m hoping that people who listen to the music can resonate with some of the stories and find themselves in that and then realise that “Season of Surrender” is really about the listener resonating with the story to the point that they see something in themselves that they need to resolve or let go of, and that’s really what the title is all about:. recognising that there are either things in your life or something that you think about yourself, that if you were to overcome it or heal from it, you’re now a truer form of who you are. You can actually live the life you intended to live versus living through the past or what the world wants you to be. That’s a season where you have to surrender that, it doesn’t feel good but when you get out of it you’re like “Why didn’t I do this sooner?” because you see your life differently, and that’s what I’m wanting to be; a source of encouragement and positivity in people’s lives. Sometimes you have to go to your own dark places and experiences to share from a place of honesty for others to see themselves in it; however they do, to encourage them to heal or to grow and evolve.
That’s super inspiring. Is there a particular song on the album that resonates with you the most or is very personal to you? Or a song that you’re most looking forward to playing live?
Ooh, I think Sonic Salvation, it’s such a big sounding song that live is just going to be so fun. Strategically it was written that way, it’s easy and digestible; it’s got a little chorus, it’s got haze, it’s about the power of music and our community.
I would say that Forged by Failure is a big one for me, when I wrote that song I was writing it for two people, I was writing it for a friend who’s actually struggling with depression, and about an experience I had where a family member of mine tried to commit suicide. It was just super devastating for me to try to understand and come to bear with the reality of it more so. That song is about really just feeling like you’re at the bottom of this canyon and its filling up with water and you see the top but it’s so far away. You can’t breathe; you don’t have the energy or the strength to climb up and get out. But then you come to this realisation which is an invitation for change. Where you realise that there’s a decision that needs to be made here; you need to accept reality, you need to accept the circumstances, but what are you going to do with that?
The encouraging part is that where you are, I know it’s a dark place, but you can overcome that. You can have faith, you can have hope, you can believe and you can take steps to heal or overcome a situation. At the end of the song, I say “It’s where the chosen live”, and what I mean by that is if you chose to heal or overcome this obstacle, you will live a life that is much different than the life that you’re living. Like exponentially different because you’ve chosen, and because of this, you’re not going to live like everyone else, you’re not going to submit to things like everybody else. One of the lines I use is a lyric like “you know that you’ve failed when you look like everyone else.”
It’s like when you have traumatic experiences in life, a lot of people are marked by it, and it becomes a huge part of their life, and it just carries on through their belief system, and so that’s what I’m saying man, no, this is an opportunity for you to make a massive change in your life; by healing or letting go of this thing, it’s going to teach you so much. So I think that’s why that song means a lot to me but they all mean a lot to me, but that one really resonates.
Sonic Salvation, the music video, how did you come up with the idea for it and what did it mean to you to have fans singing and playing along to the song throughout?
It was an idea that I came up with just thinking through, like, wouldn’t it be cool? The song is about the power of music, and it’s about us as a scene. We listen to music when we’re going through a difficult time or a challenge, or for confidence, or to go back to a memory, or whatever. And so I thought it would be really cool to have our fans be a part of that because they are a part of our band in a big way. They’re all different types of people from different types of life and different cultures, we kind of wanted to showcase that the power of music is in everyone. We wanted to honour our fans in the way, to be a part of something with us. Like yes, we’re August Burns Red, and we’re the songwriters, but we’re not everything; you guys are actually the other piece of this puzzle.
And Jamie from Polaris is such a great dude, and he has such a positive energy about him; we knew he’d be the perfect fit for the song. It’s got a lot of positive energy, it’s very jumpy and bouncy, and that’s a lot of his character as a person from what I’ve learned and from touring with him.
We know that not everybody who submitted footage for that music video made the cut; that was really unfortunate, but still fun and exciting to be part of that process. And we also have another little thing we’ll be doing to show our thanks.
Cool! I’m excited to hear more about that when it happens!
You’ve been a band for twenty-plus years, what have been the highlights and biggest achievements so far for you?
Our biggest achievement is the fact that we’re still here. Life in twenty years can go in so many different directions; it’s a miracle and a blessing that we’re still here, together and we chose to do that. You’ll learn a lot about love when you’re on a bus with twelve guys for your whole life and what acts of love and what that looks like. I think touring as much as we have, seeing the world like we’ve seen it, all of the amazing bands we get to tour with has been so cool with so many different personalities. I think just building those relationships and also growing up as a young man.
I didn’t really have a father figure in my life that was necessarily there all the time, not to say that my dad’s a bad guy; he’s not but the cards just fell where they did. I remember on this last tour, with The Amity Affliction, I’d always go to the barricade and shake hands or take pictures with people, and a guy was there who’d brought his son with him, and he was a little guy. He was like “Yeah this is my son, this is his first metal show, your music and following you has made me a better father” and I think that that really stuck with me because my music, and what I have to give to the world has made this man a better father. I think it’s moments like that that probably stick with me the most that I’m really proud of.
Being nominated for Grammy is very cool; hitting one million records is cool. There’s all these, like I guess I call them, ‘flashy moments’ like, “Wow, this feels pretty cool”, but I think my brain just goes to impact and human connection more.
That’s incredible. What does the future hold for August Burns Red?
Honestly, there’s so much going right now; I think we’re all excited. I think you think of your tenth record, and you’re like, okay, we’re gonna wrap this up soon, but I honestly feel the complete opposite after what we’ve experienced and what we’ve been doing. Where the band has been, the touring we’ve been doing, I feel like it’s a new chapter for me, it feels like were just getting started. But I’m like “No, I’m forty-one years old” but that’s how it feels to me, and that’s another reason why I love the record, not saying that all of a sudden were gonna be doing something crazy but the way that I feel about my life, the journey and feeling, like it’s new, is just an incredible feeling I think and we’re gonna just keep going and see where this all continues and leads us. We’re very honoured and blessed to be in the position that were in.
Season of Surrender features guest appearances from The Devil Wears Prada’s Mike Hranica, Polaris’ Jamie Hails, and Make Them Suffer.
SEASON OF SURRENDER’ TRACK LISTING:
Legions Feat. Mike Hranica
The Nameless
Behemoth
Den of Thieves
Sonic Salvation Feat. Jamie Hails
Cerebral Malfunction Feat. Make Them Suffer
Tear of the Clouds
Whispers Like Splinters
S.O.S.
New Horizons
Forged by Failure
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