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Inswarm - Surely Death Is No Dream review



Reviewer:
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2 users:
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Band: Inswarm
Album: Surely Death Is No Dream
Release date: 2009


01. This Moment
02. Tribulation
03. Transcend
04. Black Veil
05. Under
06. Interlude
07. Drift
08. Interlude
09. Desperation For Oblivion

This review comes with a little story from yours truly. You see, one day, I found myself attending a Jarboe concert by accident. Seriously! She just happened to be performing at a club I often go to. Anyway, so I enjoyed her show, even though it was cut short due to the ex-Swans singer's throat problems. I was particularly impressed by the wicked racket her live band was making but that was about it. I went ahead and ordered beer after beer, talked to some people, got wasted and woke up next morning with a huge hangover. While making myself some of my favorite hangover remedy (2x Paracetamol, 1x Aspirin, milk, toilet) I noticed an album in my coat pocket. Whoa! Where did this come from? Well, turns out I inadvertently ended up talking to one of the members of said live band and he gave me an album of his main band to review. In other words, this review of Inswarm's Surely Death Is No Dream is entirely the result of a complete accident, an act of pure fate.

So, what have we here? Well, it turns out Inswarm is an example of a somewhat forgotten type of industrial metal, as pioneered by Godflesh, Pitchshifter and of course, the mighty Swans. Although on tracks such as "Black Veil", the band lays down a pretty raucous and fast assault, Surely Death Is No Dream is primarily made up of plodding, monolithic shards or noise intended to crush the soul. There are some unavoidable comparisons to be made with modern post-metal noise merchants such as Cult Of Luna or Isis; however, this makes sense on account of shared influences. Moreover, Inswarm fares pretty well in these comparisons since this is a really powerful, moving album. One cannot miss just how dirty and punishing the guitar sound is here, with the well-known wave-like structure present in post-metal meandering from beautiful transcendental keyboard-laden moments to bursts of pure aggression. Frankly, it all works great together and inspires the kind of excitement that has long evaporated from this kind of music. Even the vocals, although screamed in a familiar fashion, are capable of conveying enough uninhibited emotion to truly make Surely Death Is No Dream a special album.

At the moment, Inswarm is certainly more known as Jarboe's backing band (ie. not at all); however, given the proper promotion, I can imagine Surely Death Is No Dream is capable of turning quite a few heads. Well, here is my 2 cents for the band's promotion fund, hope it helps, since this album deserves to be heard.





Written on 28.07.2009 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool.


Comments

Comments: 5   Visited by: 117 users
28.07.2009 - 03:31
Thought.
A Dying God
HOLY SHIT!! I didn't expect to ever see this band reviewed on this site!!
This band is killer live, I saw them at the pussycat lounge in NYC along with 4 hours of horrible, horrible music. The bassist, Bret Z, recorded and produced my friends' thrash band, Egokill. They are the ones who were invited by INSWARM to the city, and EGOKILL took me to see them. I was taken by surprise! They are so cool.
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There is no God but the one that dies with me. I have no life but the one I take with me to the grave. We come into this world alone. And we will die on our own. I live. I die. Ain Elohim.
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28.07.2009 - 14:38
Talvi

I hate Jarboe, but this sounds cool. Might give it a try.
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My account on other musical pages:
http://www.last.fm/user/Pozito/
http://rateyourmusic.com/~Talvi
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28.07.2009 - 19:39
Carrion Misery

Interesting stuff. Definitely sounds up your alley, Jupitreas. The most that appeals to me is not necessarily the musical talent, but the dilapidated, multilayered atmosphere. The promotional pictures they have definitely speak for the music. I've lost attraction for this style of rough vocals a few years ago, but its fitting to the music. I'll keep checking this out for a while.
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? Carrion Misery
www.mournspire.com | Two-Man Death Doom Project
Full album streaming
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28.07.2009 - 20:31
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Seems like a fortuitous drunk. inswarm definitely sounds like they are worth checking out.
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get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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28.07.2009 - 21:25
tea[m]ster
Au Pays Natal
If it's anything like Isis, Cult of Luna, Rosetta, or the mighty Godflesh....I'm in!
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rekt
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