Light The Torch: As Bright As The Darkness

Around the turn of the century, the New Wave of American Heavy Metal revolutionised heavy music. The blend of thrash, hardcore and AT THE GATES worship saw some of today’s biggest names and cult favourites get their start. 20 years on, some bands have rocketed to the top of the genre, some have fallen into obscurity, and some artists have gone on to new projects. Enter the legendary Howard Jones, and LIGHT THE TORCH, born from the ashes of his comeback band DEVIL YOU KNOW, and their second full-length offering, You Will Be The Death Of Me.

The core of DEVIL YOU KNOW continued into LIGHT THE TORCH, with former ALL SHALL PERISH riff machine Francesco Artusato and BLEEDING THROUGH bassist Ryan Wombacher joining Jones for 2018 debut Revival – perhaps the most melodic work of any of their respective careers thus far. You Will Be The Death Of Me is a different beast, far darker and heavier than its predecessor, almost feeling like a midway point between the brutality of DEVIL YOU KNOW’s albums and the accessibility of Revival.

“That wasn’t the plan – for me, this doesn’t feel like DEVIL YOU KNOW because that band is dead. It’s a different kind of dark – this is just a totally different thing, I can’t put my finger on it, it’s just the vibe it has. The whole album just has a feel to it, it’s not something I was necessarily planning on when I was writing I just knew it had to be darker. Fran definitely has a lot to do with that too,” Jones explains. But it begs the question, then, is the darkness and intensity present throughout You Will Be The Death Of Me by design or a result of personal circumstances for the trio at the time of writing?

“I think it was a little both. There was definitely some stuff going on with everyone individually and together. Death of Me was the first song written, and it just really set the tone for the rest of the album. There’s still some bright spots, but You Will Be The Death Of Me has a much darker vibe than Revival. Intense is probably a good way to put it – it has some moments!”

Lyrically, You Will Be The Death Of Me is as dark as you might expect. An emotional gut punch that sees Jones bare his soul in as crushing detail as ever. A notoriously private man, Jones avoids social media and any sense of an online life like the plague, and has said numerous times in the past the best way to get to know him isn’t through an Instagram or Twitter feed, but by reading his lyrics – and things are no different this time around.

“Things were just so heavy with us, and that’s how it all came out. Once that emotion started coming out, I just started to dig deep and threw it out there. There’s a lot of frustration – bottom of the barrel, from the guts frustration in this album. With everything I write there’s a little bit of fiction, but a lot of it is just flat out me. There were bleak moments, and I tried to convey that and musically, Fran did a good job of conveying that. It’s kind of easy listening, but at the same time it’s kind of taxing; my guts are in this album!”

In conversation with Jones, it’s abundantly clear he has an incredible passion for his work again – something that was lost after his departure from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and his absence from the heavy metal scene before coming back with DEVIL YOU KNOW. However, there’s no doubting he has rediscovered the love, and is sounding better than ever.

“It was not overnight, I don’t think anything in the world happens like that. In all honesty I remember when I figured out it was starting to feel right again. It was the end of DEVIL YOU KNOW at a show in Glasgow. It was time to go on, and I’d forgotten something on the bus. When I was crossing the street to get back to the venue I was literally skipping and it hit me. I stopped in the middle of the street and said to myself ‘oh my god, am I happy?’ That was the first time in years where I could finally say I was starting to enjoy this again,” Jones opens up. “I’ve figured out things that work for me, and I still get that joy from writing, walking out of the studio with something when you came in with nothing, I still get such a kick out of that. There are very few things in the world that feel like that to me. I’m still chasing the dragon. I didn’t think I would still have this kind of love still, but it’s there. It took time, but here I am. I’ve figured out what works and I’m not going to stop. Once I get burned out or I think I’ve had enough, I’ll quit, until then I’m going to keep pushing, because I’ve found the love again.”

The future is looking very good indeed for LIGHT THE TORCH. With Artusato continuing to be a writing machine and the mighty Howard Jones enjoying perhaps the most creative period of his career, things can only get better from here. LIGHT THE TORCH are set to shine as bright as the darkness of their work.

You Will Be The Death Of Me is out now via Nuclear Blast Records. 

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