Kutless Reinforces the Strong Tower With Revelation-Inspired Comeback
I didn’t go looking for a new Kutless album. It found me.
I kept seeing *The Seventh Seal EP* pop up in my feed. Not just once. Over and over. But it wasn’t just the algorithm. Friends were texting me about it. People whose opinions I trust kept saying, “You’ve got to check this out.” So I clicked play.
And boom. It was heavy. I mean, heavier than I ever expected. From a band that was known in the post-Creed era of worship rock, this felt like a major departure and not in a bad way. A band 20+ years deep, re-emerging with something fresh, yet still familiar.
“This project’s been in the works for five years,” Jon Micah Sumrall told me. Our interactions before today’s sit-down had been minimal. I once interviewed the band in the backroom of Mickey Mouse’s now demolished home at Walt Disney World, but that’s a story for another day. The Jon Micah I remembered was a quiet and a bit stoic. Today he was warm, joyful, almost glowing with the kind of peace you can only carry after a storm.
“We went through some really hard personal stuff. We went through some really challenging business stuff… Even for me personally, I went through a season where I had to step away for a little bit. It was hard.”
That vulnerability runs deep in The Seventh Seal EP. The lyrics are raw, unafraid, steeped in honesty and Stryper-esque end-times imagery. For a band that has seen highs on Christian radio with worship anthems and radio hits, this EP is a different beast.
“We just wanted to make a rock record,” Jon Micah said, smiling. “Our fans have been asking for a rock record forever.”
But going heavy in the current Christian music climate? That’s not exactly the obvious move.
“Christian radio’s not going to play the really heavy stuff,” he said matter-of-factly. “This isn’t a ‘have to.’ This is a ‘get to.’ If we’re going to make another record, what do we want it to be? And what do our fans want that have been with us for a long time?”
Kutless didn’t take that freedom lightly. Jon Micah stepped back creatively at first, handing the reins to longtime bandmate James Mead. “James has always been the rock guy in our group. He grew up listening to Metallica, and I grew up listening to DC Talk.”
That contrast? You can hear it in the EP’s DNA. Helping build that framework was Josiah Prince of Disciple, who co-produced the EP.
“We recorded it at his studio in Nashville. He’s a phenomenal guitarist, great musician, great songwriter. He was a big influence on this record too, and I think you’ll hear it,” Jon Micah said. “He shreds.”
And it wasn’t just Josiah. Dawn Michele of Fireflight lends both her voice and songwriting to one of the standout tracks.
“Having Dawn from Fireflight on there, people just loved that. It was really fun to be able to have some of those collaborations and bring some of that back to life in a new way.”
There’s a palpable joy in Jon Micah’s voice when he talks about the process, even when the subject turns dark. He expressed that the world has felt like it’s unraveling since 2020, and he didn’t want the music to shy away from that.
“Words of Fire” is a direct reference to the two witnesses in Revelation. This isn’t apocalyptic imagery for effect. It’s a reflection of what the band sees and feels: a world in chaos, a longing for truth, and a cry for breakthrough.
“Breakthrough is a really personal song for me,” Jon Micah said. “God, where are you? I need you to show up. I’m struggling. Anxiety, panic attacks… three in the morning, trying to figure out how to make it through.” Beneath the rubble is hope. There’s a rekindling happening—not just musically, but spiritually.
Jon Micah doesn’t dive into end-times theology in the way you might expect from a record with a title like *The Seventh Seal*. In fact, he was quick to clarify that the EP isn’t about pushing a specific prophetic interpretation. “We could argue about the theology of it for hours,” he said with a laugh. “But I think what we can see is—we’re feeling the brokenness of this world.”
Still, it’s no accident the record leans into that imagery. Jon Micah referenced the ongoing sense of chaos, culturally and globally. “There’s a lot going on in the world,” he told me. “And if you just watch the news for ten minutes… it has been nonstop craziness.”
That tension between realism and faith is all over this EP. You hear it in the lyrics. You feel it in the production. And you sense it in the conviction with which Jon Micah speaks. It’s not panic. It’s not prediction. It’s more like a spiritual weather report: things feel heavy, and Kutless is responding.
“That fire that was within me, that was burning so hot when we started doing this 20 years ago, is starting to revive again in a really cool way.”
When I brought up CCM Magazine’s 2003 prediction calling Kutless the “future of rock,” he chuckled. Today, Jon Micah is a dad in his 40s watching his own son, Caleb (artist name: Calsum), step into music.
“He put out a six-song EP. He recorded it, wrote it, produced it, did it all himself. The instrumentation, production, everything… in a kitchen and a bedroom,” he said, proudly. “We’ve been writing together, and I’m like, ‘Man, this is a good song. Even if nothing else, if we just write songs together, that’s super special.”
As for what’s next?
“I hope so,” he said when I asked if there’s more for Kutless. “I’m in a place right now where stuff is still complicated, but I’m going to be faithful to do what you put on my heart right now. And right now, that means just writing some more music.”
It doesn’t sound like Kutless is going away again anytime soon. If anything, they’re waking up with a renewed sense of calling. *The Seventh Seal* isn’t just a heavy comeback. It’s a spiritual exhale. A rallying cry. A reminder that God can still breathe something new into a band two decades in.
CHECK OUT JON MICHA’S SON – CALSUM
