Pure Reason Revolution: Terrifying Angels Tour 2027

“My initial thought of an angel was the cute kind of cherub, but traditionally angels aren't cute or comforting figures,” says Jon Courtney. “They’re often overwhelming, terrifying beings.”

This dramatic, awe-inspiring vision shapes Pure Reason Revolution’s new album, Terrifying Angels—a bold shift into a dark and potent sound driven by savage riffs, ominous soundscapes, and thrashing, grungy layers, melded with the band’s signature transcendent harmonies.

A darker turn from the previous era

Following the somewhat gentler, moving themes of sorrow and transience that guided 2024’s Coming up to Consciousness, Courtney explains why the new direction feels so natural: “The last record was more chill, so it just felt terribly natural to do something grittier, heavier and more aggressive.”

Collaboration at the heart of Terrifying Angels

Courtney is PRR’s lead writer, but he’s not the only creative contributor. The album features collaborations with old friends and new partners alike:

• The eponymous song, Terrifying Angels, was born out of a jam session in Portland, Oregon, with founding bandmate Greg Jong, who also co-wrote “Rumination Ruin”.
• “Haywire Heart” and “Hold Your Wrath”—respectively the shortest and longest tracks in PRR’s discography—were written alongside Paul Mullen, the alt-rock legend who fronted Losers and Yourcodenameis:milo.
• “Below Radiance” grew out of a section from a composition by Courtney’s mentee, Kenny Fitzgerald.
• Annicke Shireen returns for her second vocal contribution to a PRR record, in a five-day studio session in Berlin.
• Ravi Kesavaram, acclaimed drummer of My Vitriol, returned for his second PRR album, laying down his parts remotely.
• Mariusz Duda (Lunatic Soul) and Kristoffer Gildenlöw both contribute bass to the record, while Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief) once again takes care of the mix.

Studio energy and creative exchange

Courtney says he’s increasingly open to collaborations: “I used to spend a lot more time in the studio by myself, in pursuit of perfection, but now I'm more in search of what's fun, what's rewarding. Rather than blood sweat and tears, I really enjoy working with other people, bouncing ideas, and having their fresh perspective.”

Annicke Shireen describes the Berlin session as intense and creatively electric: “It’s a pretty intense job and we made long days. I was heavily on meds because of a throat infection, so I’m really happy how it turned out. It's always inspiring to do these days, and to creatively spar with Jon.”

On the musical influences, the band also points to classic grunge—mentioning Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Mudhoney—as part of the record’s atmosphere.

Angels as salvation, destruction, and complexity

Courtney explains that the initial inspiration came from a sermon he heard at an Easter service in Berlin, sparking the work’s spiritual dimension. The album’s lyrics explore angels as an idea that combines both salvation and destruction—symbolising situations, feelings, and relationships that produce both transcendence and suffering simultaneously.

A terrifying angel is described as an inversion of expectations: something we assume would be purely good, with an unexpectedly darker side that can’t be separated from the light.

Love, memory, truth, and identity each become their own kinds of terrifying angel across the LP’s seven varied tracks—huge, epochal themes paired with spectacular imagery and the heavy grandeur of the music.

According to Shireen: “The lyrics are complex and there are many ways to interpret them, because there’s a lot of symbolic meaning. Parts really resonated with me – the world is built on a system which is rotten to the core but still holds up a facade of shininess.”

Courtney’s final word sums up the journey: “Terrifying Angels is about encountering forces that appear redemptive and discovering that transformation is never gentle. The album follows a narrator who repeatedly mistakes salvation for safety, only to learn that the forces that save us are often the same forces that undo us. Ultimately, he must reach a deeper understanding by accepting complexity.”