Eric Church’s Faith Spills Into New Album, ‘Evangeline vs the Machine’

Eric Church's new album Evangeline vs the Machine (May 2) deals with an ongoing battle between good and evil.

It's a concept he says is a constant in human history, likely due to its spiritual nature, but ultimately, he knows how the story will end.

During a recent sit-down with Apple Music's Kelleigh Bannen, Church talked about this push and pull between the two opposites. He also shed some light on how he chooses to show up in the middle of this war.

"Are you feeling this epic battle between good and evil? And do you have a sense of who wins or what your role is in it?" Bannen asks.

"Yeah, I mean, I have a very good sense of who wins," Church responds, before adding, "I know who wins."

"But I think that good and evil has always been. I mean, that's the story of the world," he continues. "There's always been that. You go back to biblical times, you go back before. It's the same thing."

"You know, the devil walks the earth and he wreaks havoc anywhere he can. And there's always this good versus evil element of everything we do," the superstar adds.

It's not hard to find these battles — just read current news headlines around the world —  but Church says this struggle shows up in ways we don't always expect. He sees this in music, for example, and takes his role in uniting people very seriously.

In fact, he knows that music can be used as a weapon for good.

"Faith's a big part of my life and it's always been a part of my life," he notes. "And for me, the most powerful thing about music is we can disagree on everything. We can disagree on politics. But music is the one thing where it's kind of a safe space where I've seen people at shows that generally shouldn't like each other at all, but when you play a certain song, they'll both put their arm around each other and hold a beer up in the air."

"That's what's powerful about music. I think it's a great uniter in a world that's pretty divided," he adds.

Evangeline vs the Machine is Church's eight studio album, released Friday (May 2).