Review Summary: I’ll admit, after the last couple of records, I wondered if August Burns Red had settled into a predictable groove. Season of Surrender completely shatters that doubt. This is hands-down the best, most focused album they’ve dropped in years.
Right from the opening drop-A punch of "Legions" featuring Mike Hranica, you can tell the band is completely reinvigorated. Instead of getting lost in over-technical, noodly mush, they cut the fluff and focused on raw, heavy songwriting with a massive groove. Where recent albums occasionally felt wrapped up in complex technicality for its own sake, Season of Surrender excels by matching jaw-dropping precision with direct, stank-face-inducing aggression.
The album benefits immensely from a trimmed-down, laser-focused songwriting approach and a brilliant selection of guest features that push the band into higher gears. "The Nameless" is a dark, moody, under-three-minute bruiser driven by complex rhythms and Dustin’s frantic writing, while "Behemoth"—the lead single that anchors the record with a massive, classic metalcore stomp section and devastating breakdowns—features a vocal performance where Jake Luhrs sounds absolutely possessed. Furthermore, "Cerebral Malfunction" and "Sonic Salvation" are phenomenal tracks where the addition of guest vocals from Make Them Suffer and Polaris forces the band to expand their dynamics beautifully.
Musically and instrumentally, they continue to push new boundaries as well. The intro to "Whispers Like Splinters" is soft and beautiful as it swells before exploding in classic ABR fashion. They also bring some of their best breakdowns in recent memory. This is also the best Jake’s sounded in years, he sounded invigorated and vicious.
Ultimately, Season of Surrender feels like a rebirth. For a band over twenty years into their career, it’s incredibly easy to fall into a comfortable rhythm, but this album proves they are still hungry. It has the emotional weight of a band fighting their way out of a dark place, backed by the tightest production and most passionate performances they've displayed since the late 2010s. If you thought ABR had standard-issued their sound, put this on immediately and prepare to be proven wrong.
Season of Surrender hits exactly how a great metalcore record should: like a forceful reminder of why you fell in love with this band in the first place. It is easily their best, most vital work in years. After all these years, ABR proves why they have always been ahead of their contemporaries, delivering another landmark album. While Season of Surrender doesn’t quite hit Constellations level for me, it is still a fantastic record and shows the old dogs have a few new tricks.
