Signs Of The Swarm: Opening Up
Two years since their last album, and many tours to boot, SIGNS OF THE SWARM are on album number six with no intent of slowing down. With To Rid My Self Of Truth just in our sights, the band still hammer out their usual gut punching deathcore sound, with more emotion than ever.
Building up to the albums due date, the SWARMs camp is gearing up in their own way. “Even though we’re on album number six, I’m still shitting my pants coming up to the release. We’re very excited for it to come out but we all still get a bit nervous,” grins vocalist David Simonich. “It’s a bit crazy to think we’re on album six already, it feels just like yesterday we dropped Amongst The Low & Empty. We haven’t really been able to think much this last month or so because we’ve been in Europe on the festival circuit, now it’s back to waiting for you guys to hear the new album.”
And during their summer festival run, they’ve been able to play some of the newer songs alongside the older songs. “It’s weird seeing people scream the new songs back to you, you know? I mean we dropped HELLMUSTFEARME at the start of May, and already we’re getting the crowds sing that back to us. It’s mind blowing to say the least.”
On every album they release, SIGNS OF THE SWARM always feel like they’re progressing further by stepping out of their comfort zone to incorporate more styles into their albums by mashing genres together. “It feels like you’ve always got to try and one up yourself with every release,” laughs David. “A lot of bands fear that doing the same thing over and over again would make them stale, and we’re on of those bands, so we thought we’d mix it up just a bit.”
To make the music heavy is one thing, but SIGNS OF THE SWARM have taken the heaviness into their lyrical content. Emotionally speaking that is. And you can tell with both this album and those that have preceded it that David takes incredible pride in the lyricism. “I will say, I’ve been very open in the past with songs, but more hidden behind a cloak. I’ve really ripped the band aid off, so to speak on this one. I mean Scars Upon Scars is about my addiction and how that effected not only myself but everyone around me. I really hope it resonates a lot more with people.” And speaking of being more outspoken, Clouded Retinas is about David’s battle with Stargardt, an eye disease that he has been battling for over a year now.
“I’ve grown to have a hyper-sensitivity to green lights which is why you’ll never find any greens during our shows. Honestly, it’s insane, it’s a flashbang going off and I’ll be frozen like a statue with my eyes closed. Thankfully with the bands we go on tour with I’ll talk to them about it, and they’ll try and look out for me because I love to sneak out and get on stage with them for a song, so it’s really cool and appreciative how they’ll try and alter it so i can get up there with them for a few minutes.”
On To Rid Myself Of Truth, SIGNS OF THE SWARM aren’t strangers to slightly bringing in influences from other genres of metal either and on times they bring some death metal influences to balance out the album to make it sharper. “On this album we went into the studio to make a heavy record, so we went back to our older albums like Vital Deprivation and Absolvere and get back to the roots of where we started with them. Iron Sacrament is the death metal side seeping into the album. Forcing To Forget is probably going to catch a lot of people off guard because it’s more metalcore than anything else on the album, so I’m excited to see how that goes down with the fans. Think of it more of a palate cleanser,” David laughs.
Less of a secret, but more of a treat on their albums are the guest spots the band procure. SIGNS OF THE SWARM love getting their friends involved in their albums and vice versa. “I’m very lucky to say that all the guests we have on the album are my friends. We’ve got Phil (Bozeman) from WHITECHAPEL, Will (Ramos) from LORNA SHORE and a few others who dip their toes on here. And it’s really special to us because, no shade to anyone out there, but some people only get features for clickbait and only to gain from it rather than friends being friends.’”
It’s clear that throughout the album that David‘s vocals have only gotten better as times goes on as he takes very good care of his voice when he’s out on tour and in the studio to give the best performances possible. “I usually keep my voice healthy for the most part, I mean I don’t drink at all anymore so that helps. My warm-ups are the main thing that helps with keeping it healthy. I don’t talk much about an hour or so before we go on stage, which the rest of the band loves!” He laughs.
As we get closer to the album release the band does have a few things going on behind the scenes, but David keeps his cards close to his chest and doesn’t let anything slip. But we already know that on the back of To Rid Myself Of Truth the band are due to take on a huge US tour in support of it. Hopefully we’ll see them take it to other shores in the future. “I just can’t wait to get back up there and play these new songs and see people go crazy.”
To Rid Myself Of Truth is out now via Century Media Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS123 here:
Like SIGNS OF THE SWARM on Facebook.