Down The Barrel Photography 2019
Rising Irish metal crew, Words That Burn are about to self-release their sophomore album ‘PYRES’ on June 11th and we can assure you, it’s a banger from start to finish.
Having released a total of three singles from the album (When We’re Forgotten, ‘Arise’ and most recently, ‘Riptide’) the Dundalk-based four-piece have given us a track-by-track breakdown of ‘PYRES’ which you can read below.
Check out the cover art to ‘PYRES’ below;
The guys gave us a breakdown of the album’s tracklisting. Check it out…
1. Mammon
As the opening track to the record, we wanted to go for something with big impact. We spent ages creating these huge drums for the intro which came out sounding great. We think this song really sets the pace and scene for the album cos it kinda lulls you into a false sense of security and then BOOM, here comes the heavy! The break down is proper fight music.
2. Arise
If Mammon sets the scene, ARISE is certainly the main protagonist. It’s a song heavily influenced by personal and observed mental health issues and dealing with it in our own way. This theme is heavily vined throughout the record.
3. Riptide
This is the song that almost never made it. Up until way into the recording process this was on the back burner until Shane came into practice one day and said: “I have it”. That synth pattern at the start of the track is what was missing to gel all the chorus’ together and it became the heavyweight contender for a video. This song comes from our vocalist Roni’s experience with almost drowning and the serenity he experienced when facing the end. There is an obvious duality composition wise as lyrically it’s quite heavy but musically it’s probably the most fun – which we still have a bit of a giggle about.
4. White Smoke
As Fighting With Wire once wrote – Everyone needs a nemesis. If Arise portrays a sense of light or hope, White Smoke, among others, certainly are the dark elements of the record. This is about pain, abuse, lies, murder. It specifically pokes holes at the church and the ongoing corruption that is dark and disgusting – yet people will still gather, hope, pray and cheer when they see that white smoke at the Vatican. It’s frightening how much control faith has. Common sense doesn’t seem to have the same sized PR department.
5. Deathgrip
Arguably the heaviest track on the record. Following the point of White Smoke, the message here is that you don’t need faith to be a good person. So many people put this pressure on themselves to live or act a certain way to please a higher power which ultimately restrains them from being themselves. Reality is, you just have to find that faith in yourself. Look in the mirror – you’re your own god.
6. Fire In The Air
This was the first track we wrote for the record – before we knew we were writing a record. It’s our perspective on how people worship idols – religions or celebrity – the point where it consumes them. I don’t know which is worse, people putting all their faith in something that has never been proved to exist or reality television stars being given the time of day. Both concepts are as ridiculous as each other.
7. Between Me And The Buried
Learn to let shit go! Ghosts can fucking destroy you. You don’t have to look back with rose-tinted glasses or nothing, but history is only relevant if we learn from it to move forward. We’ve all had shit in our past be it, bad relationships, bullies, abuse – that can change a person for life. Moving on can be a very difficult thing to do but standing still is fucking worse.
This song isn’t about forgiveness but it is about not letting the past destroy who you can be.
8. Shallow Sleep
This was the last song we recorded in the studio and by far the most complex musically and vocally.
It’s kind of a metaphor about the pseudo struggle of existing in an online influenced, heavily sedated & blurry world. We are becoming more and more cognitively and sensually detached, yet people are more and more desperate to sell themselves for the love of strangers, to somehow prove their lives mean something. How we got here is a mystery. People are intelligent beings – How did we get conned into being so fucking desperate for attention?
9. When We’re Forgotten
We released this as a stand-alone track back in May 2018. It was never intended to go on this record but we couldn’t not put it on when it came to the final track selection.
Similar to the lyrical message of Shallow Sleep, it’s about this cultural paradigm shift whereby we have a generation of humans obsessed with selling themselves to people that don’t really matter to them for a virtual hug. We’ve been force fed and have willingly consumed the idea of fast food celebrity that we have gazillions of people focused on narcissistic, vapid, empty shells rather than stuff that is actually important.
Guys, in 100 years’ time no-one will give a fuck about how cute you felt on a Tuesday morning or what you had for dinner last week – no one really gives a fuck now…. All your time with your head in your phone means absolutely nothing.
Go do something.
10. A Mortal Call
The is the final scene. It’s where the idea of PYRES came from. When I heard the music for this first it was like a death march. It was like I just witnessed my own funeral.
This song is a fucking rollercoaster musically, lyrically, emotionally. It’s about facing the end and reflecting on life and the internal bipolar conversations that go on each and every day. Am I good enough? Should I say I don’t care so I don’t face disappointment? But there is also comfort there that if you have something to live for, embrace it.
“PYRES” is set for an independent release on June 11th. Check out the bands’ official social media page here for updates and further information.
Catch Words That Burn on the below select dates. More TBC…
June 12th – Voodoo Dublin (with Alien Weaponry, Dead Label)
June 15th – Templemore Metal Fest (Headline performance)
June 22nd – Cellar Bar, Galway (with Black Shuck & Organ Blender)
June 29th – Limelight, Belfast (with Towers & Divides Unfold)
July 19th – Knockanstockan Festival
New video ‘Riptide‘ was released last week. If you haven’t seen the kick-ass video yet, do so via the stream below;
You can pre-order ‘PYRES’ via this link.
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2019
