Ryan Kirby - Fit For A King 'Lonely Gods, Self Reflection & Accepting Constructive Criticism'

As the metalcore landscape continues to evolve, Fit For A King stands as one of its most dynamic and emotionally resonant forces.

With their eighth studio album Lonely God set for release on August 1, 2025, the Texan metalcore heavyweights are entering a bold new era, so we managed to grab vocalist Ryan Kirby to discuss the thoughts and process behind releasing yet another emotionally resonant metalcore album, how being a father has impacted the way he approaches the songwriting process, his relationship with Australian band Alpha Wolf, and inviting vocalist Lochie Keogh to be apart of this album, as well as their upcoming 2026 Australian tour with The Plot In You.

Watch the full interview or read on for the best bits...

‍Fit For A King have developed a great ongoing relationship with Drew Fulk, a well known producer who has worked closely with the group on their previous three albums, The Hell We Create, The Path, and Dark Skies, as well as known releases from Make Them Suffer, Knocked Loose, A Day To Remember, Motionless In White and more. For this album cycle though, the group had instead turned to the trusted capabilities of Daniel Braunstein, who is known for working with acts such as Silent Planet, Dayseeker, Invent Animate, Spiritbox and more.

“Part of the change was Drew's availability. He was available a bit later on, and we didn’t want the album to be pushed back that much. It’s a delicate balance of touring schedules, and recording availability.

Braunstein has been someone that was always on our radar just because, well, how can you ignore him when he is working with Spiritbox and Dayseeker.

Also Trey, our drummer, had experience with Braunstein in the past and was like ‘guys, I promise, you would love working with him.’

So then we met Braunstein, ironically in Europe. He was on a late honeymoon in Paris. He said to us ‘let me come meet you guys’, and he was so chill. So we agreed to book the studio time with him. At the same time, we had done three in a row with Drew, perhaps it might be nice to change things up. It’s now been seven years of us working with Drew, so [we agreed to] let's just see what happens, and I think it turned out amazing.”

‍For the most part, Fit For A King have always maintained a level of exposure and emotion within their music. As they move onto their eighth album and continue to share more of their inner world through the form of songwriting, Kirby goes on to share how he balances the art of maintaining privacy through practicing vulnerability in his music.

‍“Obviously experience helps. This is our eighth album, [we’ve experienced the] trial and errors of what works, and what fans like, and don’t like, or us just listening to our music from the past and reflecting on what we would have done differently helps a lot with things like that. A lot of self reflection, and accepting constructive criticism of past music.”

‍Having been a parent for several years, Kirby reflects on how fatherhood has shaped his approach to songwriting. He shares insights into the ways his experiences as both a father and a musician intertwine, revealing how each role has influenced and enriched the other.

‍“The last record I did before adopting our children was Dark Skies. We started fostering them in 2019, then adopted them in 2020, so it’s been about six years now. We had already written The Path and it was finished before we started fostering, so The Hell We Create was the first post-fatherhood album and I think you can feel how much more personal it is, and that expands on Lonely God.

I think a lot of that is, when you foster or adopt children, there's a lot of hurt, trauma and therapy involved. I had a great upbringing. I was fortunate to not have any of that, and I thank my parents for that. My wife was not as fortunate.

She didn’t have a great upbringing, but it is so hard to truly understand people when they are explaining their rough childhood.

Adopting children was extremely hard, there were a lot of traumatic events that happened within the adoption, on top of everything that happened before the adoption. This really opened my eyes to, not just the therapy stuff, because there was a lot of group therapy, me sitting in on their therapy sessions, and other stuff. I think this process helped me be more in touch with myself, I’d think ‘hmm, maybe I could apply that to me’, or ‘maybe that's part of what I’m going through’.

So I think it helped with the album in a sense of me being more self aware of my own emotions, but not just that, but knowing how to verbalise things that I or the kids are going through.”

Expanding on the album’s influences and its diverse lineup, it was only fitting to highlight the guest appearance of Lochie Keogh from Australian band Alpha Wolf. Kirby spoke about his connection with Alpha Wolf and shared how Lochie, alongside Chris Motionless and Landon Tewers, became featured guests on the record, offering insight into the collaborative spirit that shaped the album.

‍“Every guest vocalist on the record we have been friends with for a while. It just felt like because it was such a collaborative album [between the members of FFAK], it just felt right to bring on friends to also be a part of the record. Whether it was Chris [Motionless], whether it was Landon [Tewers], or Lochie [Koegh]. We have toured with them (Alpha Wolf) in the US twice, we toured with them in Australia, we also toured with them in Europe.

We have spent so much time with them. I have always loved Lochie’s energy, and I love Alpha Wolf as a band. It just felt like a no brainer to have him on the album."

‍Fit For A King is set to make their way to Australia, Alpha Wolf’s home turf, next year, joining forces with The Plot In You and Boundaries for what promises to be one of the most anticipated tours of 2026. Kirby offers an exciting glimpse into what fans can look forward to, hinting at an unforgettable experience on stage and a tour that’s already generating major buzz and the possibility of a Landon Tewers guest vocalist performance when they go on to play ‘TECHNIUM’.

“I don’t want to speak for Landon, as I haven’t spoken to him about it yet, but I feel like he will. But I don’t want to promise. I am definitely going to ask, and I’m going to try to make it happen. That's all I can say about it for now."

Lonely God hits earholes on August 1st via Solid State Records. Pre-order here

Interview by Adam Rice @riceyadam

Fit For A King - Lonely God tracklisting

1. Begin The Sacrifice
2. The Temple
3. Extinction
4. No Tomorrow
5. Sentient
6. Monolith (Feat. Lochie Keogh)
7. Lonely God
8. Between Us
9. Blue Venom
10. Technium (Feat. Landon Tewers)
11. Shelter
12. Witness The End (Feat. Chris Motionless)