Swarm of the Lotus "When White Becomes Black" CD
[At a Loss]
I've never heard of this band but they play some destructive and discordant material that relies heavily on rhythm. The vocals are vicious screams, and musically loose comparisons to older Neurosis wouldn't be completely unwarranted (perhaps mixed with a far more sinister take on some early Helmet), but I must make it clear that by no means is this another of those Neurosis clone bands. There's a lot more dissonant melody happening here, with occasionally caustic outbursts of noisy chord progressions and things of that nature. But the drumming is excellent and fluidly drives the tracks with numerous fills and forceful beats, the song structures are chock full of stuttered time signatures and such but never become jagged or broken up, they hit on everything from doomy dirges to blasting speeds as far as tempo changes, etc. "Committed to Ash" is an amazing piece of work with lots of sick note bends and a lot of emotion, there's a nice clean break in "From Embers" that builds back up to a massive peak with some sinister whispered vocals, "Serpent Within" is a quick two-minute burst of frantic speeds and caustic textures that has a modern metalcore sort of angle happening, while eight-minute closer "Stained Glass Oubliette" opens faintly with lush clean guitars and sparse percussion before unloading some pure fury. I have some problems with the sound, but they're on the right track. The biggest setbacks are that the bass is practically inaudible and lacks density, and the percussion is also sort of flimsy and lacking in warmth/thickness as well. I actually love the gritty guitar tone, and the vocals match up perfectly against that, but these songs need a monstrous low-end presence to really emphasize their plodding, rhythmic nature. I really enjoy the layout on this one. A lot of blank space is used very well, and the illustrations have a really nice quality to them. It just looks really clean and sort of stands out. The text is easy to read, etc. Lyrically everything is pretty brief and the personal content doesn't beat you over the head. "Gray as the rust in the drain, Behind black surrender, Unwilling to move from the wall, Over and over again, Near fatal design, Bring me back, Serpents of the flesh, Unleash the fallen..." Good stuff. I'd love to hear this band with a warmer and thicker recording. Leave the guitars and vocals in place and beef up the rhythm section and this shit would smash your face in. (7/10)
Running time - 51:37, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Committed to Ash, Burn Autumn Burn, Stained Glass Oubliette]
At a Loss Recordings - http://www.atalossrecordings.com

This review has been displayed 1797 times.