Worship and Tribute - Production and Style

Production and Style

Originally, Worship and Tribute was to have twelve songs with the last song entitled "Convectuoso." The band, however, had recorded the song with their previous label, Roadrunner Records, for the "Ry Ry's Song" single. Since Glassjaw abruptly ended their contract to sign with Warner Bros., Roadrunner retained the rights to that song and refused to let the newly rerecorded "Convectuoso" be released on the final album despite being on promotional copies.

Worship and Tribute marks a huge stylistic change for Glassjaw. Rather than the extremely abrasive metal-influenced hardcore found on the first album, it moves more towards experimental rock. The album mixes jazz, afrobeat, psychedelic rock and funk among many others, and only returns to their old style fully in the opening track "Tip Your Bartender." On the other hand, tracks "Mu Empire," "Pink Roses" and "Stuck Pig" show moments that are equal in aggression and arguably heavier than any of the band's previous material and show more of a mix of thrash metal and noise rock.

Vocalist Daryl Palumbo has stated that while Glassjaw's debut album was filled with negativity, Worship and Tribute is much more optimistic in tone. Regarding the album title, Palumbo expressed how the bands that influenced Glassjaw have shaped their musical identity and are therefore being honored through Glassjaw's music:

"You are only a sum of all of your influences and that's what we are. . . I think that we're original and I think that what we're doing is different and that's something I always knew we had on our side, but no matter how original you are you're still just a sum of your influences."

Guitarist Todd Weinstock has regarded continuity as the biggest difference between Glassjaw's debut album and Worship and Tribute, noting "EYEWTKAS was just kind a bunch of songs written over years and when we got signed we were like 'okay we got some songs we can throw together.' With Worship we went into it with the intentions of writing an album that made sense as a unit as opposed to a bunch of songs, some of which may have even been written four years earlier!" He also noted that, due to the fact that the album was written around the time of the September 11 attacks, its tone was affected by the tragedy.