Although the chorus of ‘Preacher’s Son’ may share some distant similarity with Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’, the Gentlemen Jackal’s couldn’t be more different. The hard rock outfit come bearing an energy and aggression unlike most modern rock outfits. Opening with a ‘buzzsaw guitar‘ intro, the song starts off with this explosion of loaded and distorted riffs that give way to a thundering and impactful vocal performance by lead singer ‘Mark Wilson’. Gentlemen Jackals are defiantly hard rock, the kind that don’t want to give way to a dull moment. They start at a hundred, and keep going from there.
“Whenever we write songs together, the music always comes first,” revealed the track’s lyricist and primary vocalist, Mark Wilson. “I let the mood of the music inform the subject matter. In this particular instance, the sound we created called for a visceral subject matter.”
Preacher’s Son might be heavy, but it’s also deeply dark. The song delves deep into the threat and fear of gun violence in America, with a unique perspective. It combines that spectre of violence with the overwhelming, domineering, and sometimes sinister influence that religion brings alongside it. The lyrics evoke Christian iconography (with ‘solemn vows’ and ‘golden cows’) to describe the issues of an American teen who gradually starts to think about something far more awful. Contrasting images traditionally conceived as peaceful, the song takes the perspective of the shooter as a zealot who is undoubtedly evil but who believes in himself as honourable and justified.
Powerful, no other word does it justice.