By: John McLaughlin
A Swarm of the Sun | website | facebook | twitter | bandcamp |
Released on January 30, 2015 via Version Studio Records
Steven Wilson, while introducing the Porcupine Tree song ‘Stop Swimming’ at a concert, once said that sad music is often the most beautiful. It’s an adage that, to me, consistently proves to be true, and given the success of recent albums such as Distant Satellites by Anathema or Foundations of Burden by Pallbearer, it seems there are others who agree with me.
This bodes well for Swedish duo A Swarm of the Sun, whose newest album The Rifts seems poised to make waves. Debuting in 2007 with their EP The King of Everything and following it up in 2010 with the full-length Zenith, the band has developed a penchant for the dismal and morose edge of heavy rock. Five years between albums seems to have given Erik Nilsson and Jakob Berglund plenty of inspiration, because The Rifts is a chilling, painfully beautiful album, and a dark horse to be one of the most soul-crushing listens of 2015.
A Swarm of the Sun originally built their sound on a foundation of latter-day Katatonia riffs, post-rock atmospherics, and light electronic elements, and while those elements are still in play on The Rifts, the order of importance has shifted somewhat, as the ambience takes a much larger role and the music becomes less riff-driven. Vocals are sparser as well, with only four of nine songs on the album containing them, and two of those – ‘Infants’ and ‘These Depths Were Always Meant for Both of Us’ – going for very long stretches without voice.
Where Zenith was a touch more song-focused, The Rifts feels more like a composed whole, with less hooks but more unity. The end result may be somewhat less listener-friendly, but is also very rewarding; if The Rifts was cathartic for the band to write, it is certainly cathartic to listen to as well. This album could very well ruin your good mood, but you’ll likely feel better at the end for it, and the goosebumps will linger across your body long after the album is done. The Rifts isn’t particularly catchy, but it is absolutely memorable in a way that many albums can’t hope to touch.
The Rifts manages to reach into your very core and completely transfix you. This is an album that can make the entire outside world vanish and leave you staring at the parts of your soul that you might not otherwise face. It is a sign of a truly powerful work of art to demand your attention so completely and utterly, and The Rifts is worth every moment spent neglecting real life.
