Blegh, hang, ting, chug. These are the four main elements of deathcore, no matter what else they add it’s these four main factors that attracts or detracts the listener. For five albums Signs Of The Swarm have been showcasing that they can do all four of these things better than many of the bands of the same genre.
They’ve experimented in the past of course but on their sixth album, To Rid Myself Of Truth they have embraced the mantle of headliner that was forced upon them when their tour co-headliner Veil Of Maya called it quits, they grabbed the opportunity to embrace the pressure and kick the hell out of every venue on that tour.
With this confidence and guitarist Carl Schultz added to the band they went straight back into the studio to write this new record buoyed by the reaction to their live show as a headliner, the idea was to write the angriest music they could, peeling back any grandiose stuff for ruthless aggression and abrasive technicality.
Musically the album is inspired by the all-consuming chug of Mesuggah and Gojira, including a few solo breaks to really hammer home the idea that this record is more than just deathcore punishment. There’s also the industrial battery of Fear Factory (Sarkazein) and those deathcore fundamentals, it’s more aggressive and more impressive than previous records, but a hell of a lot more savage, the incredible intensity of Bobby Crow’s drumming a major factor in Signs Of Swarms battery.
If the music was consuming then the lyrics are even more so as frontman David Simonich deals with a lot on this album, be it his addiction problems Boundless Manifestations, while Clouded Retinas is about his battles with Stargardt disease a degenerative condition of the eye, but elsewhere there’s a few songs about nothing in particular where the lyrics are meant to sung back.
Musically the album is inspired by the all-consuming chug of Mesuggah and Gojira, including a few solo breaks to really hammer home the idea that this record is more than just deathcore punishment. There’s also the industrial battery of Fear Factory (Sarkazein) and those deathcore fundamentals, it’s more aggressive and more impressive than previous records, but a hell of a lot more savage, the incredible intensity of Bobby Crow’s drumming a major factor in Signs Of Swarms battery.
If the music was consuming then the lyrics are even more so as frontman David Simonich deals with a lot on this album, be it his addiction problems Boundless Manifestations, while Clouded Retinas is about his battles with Stargardt disease a degenerative condition of the eye, but elsewhere there’s a few songs about nothing in particular where the lyrics are meant to sung back.
Though I dare anyone to do it with the disgusting gutturals Simonich showcases across the record. Joining him on vocal duties are some of deathcore’s finest, Will Ramos (Lorna Shore), Phil Bozeman (Whitechapel), Johnny Crowder (Prison) and Jack Murray (156/Silence) all drop in to spit venom on this mature new release.
To Rid Myself Of Truth is a record that sees Signs Of Swarm mature yet refine all of the things that make them popular, sometimes the simplest things are the most effective and your enjoyment of this album will very much depend on how you enjoy blegh, hang, ting, chug. 8/10
Vindicator - Whispers Of Death (Independent) [Mark Young]
With Whispers Of Death, Vindicator have one eye fixed firmly on the movements golden years, well that period between 85 and 89 before it blew itself out. We might as well put this out there from the off; if you have no love of thrash, speed or any of those linked genres then there’s nothing for you here. Sorry to be blunt, but I’d thought I’d do you a solid.
Still here? Ok, good. So, this is their 5th full length release in a career that saw them take their first breath in 2005 and putting it bluntly I don’t think that they have strayed too far from that first release. For those who recognise this form of metal as the only one that matters then this will tick all of your boxes:
Razor sharp riffs? Check
Gang vocals? Check
Propulsive drumming? Check
Slightly gritty vocal style? Check
OTT solos? Check
Knowing that they have these bases covered, there is little else to say about it. If you come in expecting a grand musical statement, with lush strings and extended acoustic noodling you should keep on walking until you get to atmospheric blackened folk.
Vindicator - Whispers Of Death (Independent) [Mark Young]
With Whispers Of Death, Vindicator have one eye fixed firmly on the movements golden years, well that period between 85 and 89 before it blew itself out. We might as well put this out there from the off; if you have no love of thrash, speed or any of those linked genres then there’s nothing for you here. Sorry to be blunt, but I’d thought I’d do you a solid.
Still here? Ok, good. So, this is their 5th full length release in a career that saw them take their first breath in 2005 and putting it bluntly I don’t think that they have strayed too far from that first release. For those who recognise this form of metal as the only one that matters then this will tick all of your boxes:
Razor sharp riffs? Check
Gang vocals? Check
Propulsive drumming? Check
Slightly gritty vocal style? Check
OTT solos? Check
Knowing that they have these bases covered, there is little else to say about it. If you come in expecting a grand musical statement, with lush strings and extended acoustic noodling you should keep on walking until you get to atmospheric blackened folk.
If you want 12 songs that more or less cover the same ground but never let the BPM’s drop below frenzied then step right up and get this in your ears. I appreciate that my tone might seem slightly dismissive, but Whispers Of Death is a rare thing. It is an album that is the physical manifestation of their own words.
They are telling you that this is going to be fast, ugly, and chock full of classic thrash moments from start to finish. It dives into a time when bands lived to play faster, harder than their peers where credibility was gained from the bands you listened to. They write music like that golden period never ended and more power to them. They promised speed and aggression and delivered it in spades.
They are also very good at doing it too, it isn’t a half-arsed facsimile, this is their own beast that yes doesn’t do anything new but at the same time would you want it to? We complain about those classic bands who seemed to lose their edge or evolve into something else but don’t give enough props to those bands who consistently release good music.
They are also very good at doing it too, it isn’t a half-arsed facsimile, this is their own beast that yes doesn’t do anything new but at the same time would you want it to? We complain about those classic bands who seemed to lose their edge or evolve into something else but don’t give enough props to those bands who consistently release good music.
Vindicator won’t win any awards for originality, but then I don’t think that they are too bothered by that. I think that they would take more comfort in the fact that they are writing and releasing music that would not have been out of place in the 80’s. 7/10
Hammer King - Make Metal Royal Again (Reaper Entertainment) [Matt Bladen]
It's 2025 and Hammer King are still making heavy metal about hammers and kings. Something's they say are inevitable and this is one of them, having been releasing records since 2015 they managed to mine a particularly deep seam from those two items.
Make Metal Royal Again is their seventh studio album and follows two previous albums that helped Hammer King define themselves as more than just another band taking a strong influence from Hammerfall or Manowar, taking things further with epic orchestrations as their classic heavy metal/power metal style shifted into more melodic sounds.
Produced by Powerwolf's Charles Greywolf and the band's frontman Titan Fox V this record is mixed & mastered by Jacob Hansen, it's boisterous, ballsy and filled with majesty on tracks such as I Kneel Before The Throne, Hammerschlacht and Hoheitsgebiet as well as Hell Awaits The King which hark back to the classics.
They can ring the changes with the ballad Schlaf Kaiser Schlaf which features Steffi Stuber of Mission In Black and go a bit poppy on Hammerschlacht which borrows from Land Of Confusion by Genesis. These pop influences return on the bonus track, a snazzy cover of Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins. With new drummer Count Shandorian, behind the kit it looks as if Hammer King will be bringing us songs about hammers and kings for years to come! 7/10
Kaptain Kollnot - The Aquarius Shift EP (Self Relased) [Mark Young]
The Nature Of Evil starts this follow up EP to their 2022 EP Future Human and comes at from you with some impressive vocal gymnastics courtesy of Stu Block (Into Eternity). Its set up is within that hardened rock lens, blurring its line with some heavy riffing without taking its eyes from making sure the chorus is delivered with top notch vocal and melody hooks.
Hammer King - Make Metal Royal Again (Reaper Entertainment) [Matt Bladen]
It's 2025 and Hammer King are still making heavy metal about hammers and kings. Something's they say are inevitable and this is one of them, having been releasing records since 2015 they managed to mine a particularly deep seam from those two items.
Make Metal Royal Again is their seventh studio album and follows two previous albums that helped Hammer King define themselves as more than just another band taking a strong influence from Hammerfall or Manowar, taking things further with epic orchestrations as their classic heavy metal/power metal style shifted into more melodic sounds.
Produced by Powerwolf's Charles Greywolf and the band's frontman Titan Fox V this record is mixed & mastered by Jacob Hansen, it's boisterous, ballsy and filled with majesty on tracks such as I Kneel Before The Throne, Hammerschlacht and Hoheitsgebiet as well as Hell Awaits The King which hark back to the classics.
They can ring the changes with the ballad Schlaf Kaiser Schlaf which features Steffi Stuber of Mission In Black and go a bit poppy on Hammerschlacht which borrows from Land Of Confusion by Genesis. These pop influences return on the bonus track, a snazzy cover of Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins. With new drummer Count Shandorian, behind the kit it looks as if Hammer King will be bringing us songs about hammers and kings for years to come! 7/10
Kaptain Kollnot - The Aquarius Shift EP (Self Relased) [Mark Young]
The Nature Of Evil starts this follow up EP to their 2022 EP Future Human and comes at from you with some impressive vocal gymnastics courtesy of Stu Block (Into Eternity). Its set up is within that hardened rock lens, blurring its line with some heavy riffing without taking its eyes from making sure the chorus is delivered with top notch vocal and melody hooks.
I’m sort of torn as to which way to go with this as on one hand rock is not something I gravitate to but I can appreciate what is happening here as being a logical bridge between the two. There is of course a wild solo mid-way through which was expected and had they not done so I would have been disappointed. Does the song need to be 8-minutes long? Probably not and would have come off as punchier and more immediate with a shorter length but that is a minor thing. As an opening statement it is impressive, guitars have that crunch, and the aforementioned Block in good voice.
Mankinds is more up-tempo, this time with a more ‘good time rock’ build to it where they switch from the Grrr into the Ahhh. If you listen to it, you will immediately get what I’m saying. What this does mean is that this switch is now nailed on as being the arrangement with repeated run-throughs before you get to the expected lead break.
To be fair to them, it is a very good lead that shows a measure of the virtuoso Kaptain, but that ‘lighter’ part of the build grates on me. It closes out nicely but two songs in my opinion is forming that the remaining songs will follow a similar approach. With Mankinds, I felt that this calls back to a simpler time in music, but maybe that is what’s required now.
A New World opts for an Iron Maiden-esque opening, a frenetic melodic flurry of guitars and a touch of whammy abuse (which is always welcome) as it suddenly hits that this is an instrumental. So, depending on your liking for this kind of thing, you will either love it or skip forward. It’s a 4 minute vehicle for trading solo’s and it doesn’t try to be anything other than that. No acoustic moments, no pausing just bombast. God bless em.
A New World opts for an Iron Maiden-esque opening, a frenetic melodic flurry of guitars and a touch of whammy abuse (which is always welcome) as it suddenly hits that this is an instrumental. So, depending on your liking for this kind of thing, you will either love it or skip forward. It’s a 4 minute vehicle for trading solo’s and it doesn’t try to be anything other than that. No acoustic moments, no pausing just bombast. God bless em.
The Soul Plan is the closing piece, and it set’s its stall out very early; more harmonic guitars and a racing rhythm to give you a kick in the pants. It follows the same build, middling tempo for the verse and for chorus to give the vocals chance to soar. In much the same way as The Nature Of Evil its too long but they make sure that there is a suitable OTT solo in there to fire things up.
In all honesty I didn’t take to this at all. You may have guessed that I was never a fan of rock as such and as I’ve got older I’ve stayed within the more extreme arenas of metal because its appeal, of the feeling that it evokes in me of something that is thrilling to listen to. I didn’t get that here. I appreciate it, but just don’t like it. 6/10
In all honesty I didn’t take to this at all. You may have guessed that I was never a fan of rock as such and as I’ve got older I’ve stayed within the more extreme arenas of metal because its appeal, of the feeling that it evokes in me of something that is thrilling to listen to. I didn’t get that here. I appreciate it, but just don’t like it. 6/10
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