Signs of the Swarm – Amongst the Low and Empty | Album Review
Within the deathcore resurgence in the late 2010’s, there were several acts that became household names. Whether it be Lorna Shore’s blackened symphonies of cacophony, Slaughter to Prevail’s massive grandeur, or even Chelsea Grin’s resurgence of brutality, the genre renaissance is prevalent to this day. So, what if one band took the DNA of what makes this genre so intricate and special, and formulated their own masterful sound? The result is Signs of the Swarm, a Pittsburgh act that’s carefully honed their craft as LP #5 approaches. Coming off of 2021’s Absolvere, Amongst the Low and Empty, with a solidified lineup, the stage is set for an impactful follow-up.
With prolific producer Josh Schroeder behind the mixing/mastering, it’s noteworthy that during that process, Amongst the Low and Empty blew out his subwoofer. This precedent for “heaviness” far surpasses the “how heavy is it?” discussion – it’s living, breathing proof that Signs of the Swarm is a recipe for disaster. But the compelling part is as such, shares drummer Bobby Crow: “it’s got death metal, metalcore, djent, some industrial stuff…” And Bobby wasn’t lying – there’s certainly some scope in Amongst the Low and Empty, whether it be synth runs in “Tower of Torsos” or a groovy breakdown structure in “Pray for Death”, it’s refreshing for a record in this genre realm to have this much nuance. Toss in a vocal feature from the legendary Matt Heafy of Trivium and the mass appeal is evident.
And as much genre is deliberated on in this review, the magic of it is that Signs of the Swarm happens to have a firm grasp of most sounds they strive for across Amongst the Low and Empty. Instead of “breakdown, slamming riff, blast beats, low growls, rinse and repeat”, you can hear a more meticulous songwriting structure between songs. It’s due to this variety that Amongst the Low and Empty is satisfying to enjoy front-to-back, as opposed to having blatant filler or skips. Skipping from blistering to commandingly-slow in “Between Fire & Stone”, it takes serious chops to take writing risks like this and actually have them pay off. And while variety is the spice of life, not every single risk tends to pay off, as some epic moments overshadow others like the tedious start to most tracks and lack of melody where it could have benefitted in some places. Still, I’d rather Signs of the Swarm attempt to branch out instead of restrict themselves to the same sound.
The decisiveness inside of Amongst the Low and Empty permeates into why the end result is so authoritative. Of the writing, “Everything came together so fast we didn’t have time to second guess it.”, mentions Bobby. “If we had a part where we weren’t sure what to add, we’d just let Josh do his thing – and thirty minutes later, he’d have a handful of fresh ideas for us to try out.” Where there’s a lot of deathcore I’ll listen to once and rarely come back to, there’s staying power in Amongst the Low and Empty; as a sum of its parts, it’s a full-album listen custom-tailored for heavy lifts or stress decimation. Signs of the Swarm has survived a bevy of member changes, but this is toe-to-toe with anything from their back catalog, even Absolvere which I hold in high regard. It’s a pleasure to see a band progress and not regress, and if you’ve been following these singles, you already know Signs of the Swarm is firing on all cylinders. Amongst the Low and Empty is sure to have heads banging furiously starting tomorrow.
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