Peart Tackles Religion on New Rush Album

The new Rush album, Snakes and Arrows, is due on 1 May. Drummer Neil Peart has always contributed lyrics to the band's songs and this time around, he has written about religion. Here are some of the song titles: "Armor and Sword", "Workin’ Them Angels", "Faithless" and "Malignant Narcissism". And here is what Peart has to say about the lyrical theme:

Peart revealed few details about the record, except to say that reflections on faith emerged as a clear theme from the very beginning. "I tried hard to look at it as a subject - what's good about it - and tried to balance that against what I saw as not being a good thing," said Peart, noting his experience as a Canadian living in the United States for the past six years has given him a unique perspective on world events. "All we're seeing, especially in the world today, is a very malevolent kind of faith, in fundamentalism of all kinds, on both sides. One of the lines I use in the new songs equates Middle East and Middle West, because this stuff is going on in both localities, although both would probably be insulted by the comparison."

"Just seeing the power of evangelical Christianity and contrasting that with the power of fundamentalist religion all over the world in its different forms had a big effect on me," he said.