JFH News: Pipe Bomb Announce New EP, "Stomp"

Pipe Bomb Announce New EP, Stomp

NEWS SOURCE: Pipe Bomb
February 2, 2024

Caked in blistering vocals, pummeling breakdowns, and dissonant guitar riffs, Pipe Bomb writes aggressively chaotic music for fans of early 00s metal-core bands like Norma Jean, Every Time I Die, and The Chariot. Its debut single, "False God," hit the ground running and gained Pipe Bomb exposure on platforms like the Kingdom Core Podcast, among others.

"Stomp" is the first EP release from Pipe Bomb and will be available to stream everywhere on February 28th, 2024. The first three singles, “False God,” “Suicide Pact,” and “Tied Down,” will be featured, as well as three new tracks.

Lyrically, the EP focuses on the nuances of the Christian walk, namely its hardships and small victories. The title track opens with the abrasive plea, “Suffocate me.”

“I knew that first line would rub people the wrong way,” vocalist Mitchell Layton explains, “but it was the most accurate way to describe my thought process.”

“For most of my adult life, I’ve struggled to want to be alive,” Mitchell continues. “I guess that’s putting it nicely, but it’s a constant thing. And when you’re in that space, it can be hard to gain perspective. I just kept thinking to myself that if I’m saved and if Jesus is living in me (and through me), why can’t he live instead of me? Why can’t he literally live in my place? I’m just here fumbling around when I don’t want to be.”

“There’s a phrase that Christians often say that goes, ‘less of me; more of Jesus.’ In a way, that’s what I wanted. I wanted none of me, none of existence, none of my sin, all of Jesus. I know it’s not that simple, but the lyric ‘suffocate me’ is asking God to murder the sinful part of me. It’s asking for Jesus to stomp out all the wrong in me and shape me to be more like him.”

“At the same time, there’s a bit of concern there. If God gets rid of all the sinful parts of me, there’ll be none of me left. But we need God to fill us up, too. We don’t just need less of us; we need more of him to sustain us. After all, we’re alive for his glory. When life seems pointless, there’s the point. We live for him.”

Much like the musical content, the lyrical content is complicated and simple at the same time. Alongside heaps of existential dread come nods of optimism and sobering humility. At their heart, these songs are notes written in the margins of the Bible, working out hard truths and grappling with sin for the Lord’s glory.

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