As Hell Retreats
Faith With An Edge
By: Christian Cipollini (Posted By: Bear Frazer)
Last updated May 31st , 2010

According the As Hell Retreats bassist Taylor Jones, the Christian music scene has varied views within itself on what seems to be acceptable to question, especially regarding personal faith.  Though he's the newest member of this band, Jones fits into the mix without a hitch and he's been privy to the touring scene and what messages are being sent and received. This band doesn't skirt around raising questions about their own place in faith, or faith in general, but sometimes that stance raises a few eyebrows.  Their new album, Revival, is no exception.

"Most of our songs on this record are about Christianity and religion," Jones says with a tone of the obvious. "But we have a song called ‘Poor God' that discusses how sometimes we feel like religion isn't there for us and people think that's an edgy song to have."

As Hell Retreats began roughly five years ago, with some independent releases under their belt before Strikefirst Records, a subsidiary of Christian metal powerhouse Facedown records, signed them.  Jones had known the other members for some time, so when they needed a new bassist, he was on the list. "At the time they needed a bass player," he recalls, "I wasn't playing in a band and I honestly never played music like theirs.  I listened to it, and was into it but never played it.  I was nervous wondering if I could play it and keep up.  Now, I'm really stoked because I love the band and I'm now getting the hang of it, writing some of the music.  I've learned a lot since I've joined the band."

Jones says the debut record was created with the intention of having entire songs be enjoyable, not in parts or just certain songs. "We'll write what we think will be good for the time being, and we'll practice it and see if we need to change parts to our liking and fans liking," explains Jones.  "We don't want to have parts that are boring or people won't be into.  We want people to enjoy the whole song, not parts of it.  If we need to revamp something, we will."

Though being the new guy, Jones was certainly ushered in with open arms, even contributing to the writing process on Revival.  He says people should be hearing something a little diverse with this release. "The album will hopefully have different things that people in this scene will like. Most people will like one song from an album, but I think people will like different songs as opposed to just one."

"We usually get riffs together then go to the studio and try to practice them," he describes the creative process. "Parts are heavy, there are parts thrashy and a full song of instrumental that's soft that nobody would expect from us.  We were shooting for different sounds with this album."
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Back to the topics of message and content, he says the band knows there are times when faith takes a hit and people need to be reminded of why they believe. "The record talks about how Christians lose hope in Christianity with all the corruption," Jones explains.  "People need revived back into Christianity in their own way, paint their own picture."

The metal mayhem on Revival will make the spirit of music surge through listeners, but As Hell Retreats hopes a spiritual effect is felt too.  "We want our songs and beliefs to help people out.  We have a lot of things that might seem edgy, some songs on this record.  We're not trying to go out and say we're right, but we want people to know how we think about the world and Christianity."

[Tags] Metal, Rock

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