While the travelers plan their attack on the despot, their target is more than aware of their plan. The omnipotent God of the land sees their lack of a loyalty as a test of strength and begins to plan their punishment. As the second song in the “Horology” trilogy, “Loyalty” hints at the fate of Polygondwanaland’s unwelcome guests. It also has been a highlight of many live shows with Stu taking to the vocoder to sing some terrifying lyrics. “Loyalty” is Polygondwanaland at its most ominous and eerie, the surreal calm before a storm. In a way it’s also an important song signaling the band’s synth experimentation to come on Fishing For Fishies and later Butterfly 3000, though neither project gets as dark as this.
“Loyalty” was recorded by Stu Mackenzie at Flightless HQ Footage of Stu and Joey recording their vocals for the song during these sessions can be found in polygondwanaland the movie uploaded on November 29th, 2019. While the song would be released on November 17th, 2017, the earliest performance was two years later on 2019-06-26 at Howler in Naarm (Melbourne) as part of the “Horology” trilogy, which would become a staple of the 2019 tours over the next few months. The “Horology” trilogy from 2019-10-06 at the TivoliVredenburg Ronda in Utrecht is at the end of the concert film Chunky Shrapnel. Live performances at the time featured Stu on vocoder for the lines “this is a test, I am lord, I am death” before the final verse.
The song would not be played from 2020 to 2021 with Lucas saying the trilogy was the hardest song the band had to play live. In another comment he would explain why more in depth. “Blocking some parts / instruments out and only listening to some is really hard. There's parts where I have to kind of ignore/tune cavs out which really goes against everything you learn about playing with people.” “Loyalty” returned as part of the trilogy on 2022-05-21 at KEMBA Live in Columbus. The vocoder was switched out for an octave effect in these versions. The trilogy would return in 2023, this time with Stu and Joey throat singing the vocoder lines. The “Horology” trilogy is now one of the two common Polygondwanaland live choices, the other being “Crumbling Castle” > “The Fourth Colour.” Both Cavs and Lucas have named the trilogy as some of the hardest material to play.