Album Review: Signs of the Swarm – Amongst the Low & Empty (Century Media Records)

Pittsburgh deathcore unit Signs of the Swarm will release their much-anticipated new album ‘Amongst the Low & Empty’ on July 28th, 2023, via Century Media Records.

The goal for Signs of the Swarm seems to have been to make this album the heaviest thing they have ever put out there. Which is hilarious when you consider the heaviness that this band are so renowned for. Yet, they’re pushing themselves to bone-breaking, head-smashing, and gut-churning limits on Amongst the Low & Empty.

This is a revelation in brutality, and no-one will come away unaffected by the passion Signs of the Swarm have put into it.

It’s an immediate slice of savoury savagery that is unleashed with the title track. Signs of the Swarm sounding deliciously dangerous as they gurn and grimace their way through a pure deathcore destruction. Seriously, the blast beats are something else. Words can barely do them justice. Followed then by even more chaos and carnage in the form of Tower of Torsos, Pray for Death, and Borrowed Time.

The breakdown is king here, but do you know what the biggest surprise is? It’s that for all this belligerent intensity, it’s an album with groove. A solid amount of groove that really gets the muscles moving and the adrenaline pumping.

It’s a big component of what keeps this album, and the constant forceful deathcore, sounding so fresh. Signs of the Swarm not letting up for even a second as they smash out banger after banger. The likes of Between Fire and Stone, Shackles Like Talons, and DREAMKILLER bristle with so much intensity, it will give you heart palpitations. Yes, this album is so freaking heavy that it might give you a heart attack. What’s not to love about Signs of the Swarm!?

Trivium’s Matthew K. Heafy then joins the massacre of heavy on The Witch Beckons. A match made in heaven as the talented Trivium vocalist and guitarist is such a wide-ranging artist, so fits the Signs of the Swarm make-up perfectly.

Then it’s a race to the finish with a handful of dark and twisted numbers in the form of Echelon, Faces Without Names, and Malady. Signs of the Swarm are dragging you kicking and screaming into the abyss. However, as it’s already been established before this latter point, fans of savage sounds will go willingly.

Amongst the Low & Empty is coarse and unforgiving, but mightily enjoyable noise. Goal achieved.

Signs of the Swarm – Amongst the Low & Empty Track Listing:

1. Amongst the Low & Empty
2. Tower of Torsos
3. Pray for Death
4. Borrowed Time
5. Between Fire and Stone
6. Shackles Like Talons
7. DREAMKILLER
8. The Witch Beckons (Ft. Matthew K. Heafy)
9. Echelon
10. Faces Without Names
11. Malady

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