Pylon - Armoury of God

"Faster AND slower," lead singer and guitarist Matt Brand stresses: with the addition of drummer An-drea Tinner, Pÿlon have not been shy to add some double bass drumming to their arrangements, but, indeed, songs such as The Worm Within proudly crawl at a pace below the rate of the human heart-beat. "It was also exciting to allow our guest soloists explore challenging passages of dissonance and create new songs within the songs." Although several of the tracks fade and merge into each other, the individual compositions are more straightforward than on [the predecessor album] Doom, aren't they? "They are metal songs. They are as rough as our playing. This is neither a classical œuvre nor a post-rock sound collage. There simply is nothing wrong with a tune such as Hunter Angels which is so fun to play! (laughing)" "And, of course, arranging songs with a drummer is very different from the purely melodic and har-monic approach on Doom;" bass player Jan Thomas continues, "both methods are exciting and it is a gift to be allowed to dedicate an entire album's worth of compositions to each." The previous albums, Th' Eternal Wedding Band and the aforementioned Doom featured lyrics focusing on principal guiding themes, viz. 'death' and 'decay' respectively - is there such a thread running through Armoury Of God? "Indeed, there is a vague guiding line in the topics 'religion' and 'biblical themes'. The lyric nearest and dearest to me is that of The Worm Within, and the dissonances between the guitar licks and the voice support the message of desperation - and disparity - rather fittingly". Andrea Tinner, the new man with a tech-metal background on the drums, reflects on the idea that Armoury Of God might be Pÿlon's most progressive album to date: "For me, it is relaxing to play beats at a fraction of the speed I am won't to play; most of the structures are easy to follow and, when in doubt, riff-based compositions always allow the drums to follow the guitars." And he adds with a snicker: "But I have come to learn that this is the inherent power of doom!"