Signs Of The Swarm: Taking The Plunge
Deathcore bruisers SIGNS OF THE SWARM have been firmly cementing themselves as one of the genre’s most exciting acts and despite losing some longstanding members along their journey, this hasn’t stopped their massive momentum. Their fifth full-length release Amongst The Low & Empty is just over the horizon and is poised to destroy every sound system it touches with its visceral levels of violence.
“You can expect a variety of different perspectives and it shows just how diverse our band is,” discusses frontman David Simonich. “There’s a whole spectrum of atmospherics to crushing, brutal riffs, blast beats, it’s all there. We definitely tried to step out of our comfort zone and experiment to make sure we could appropriately convey the emotions that the songs are portraying. It’s a handful!”
Amongst The Low & Empty feels like a big step in the progression of their sound and stepping outside of their usual routine has allowed them to reap the considerable benefits. “This album was the first time we’ve written the entire record inside the studio. I’ve never done that before and I’ve never been told to throw away everything I’ve worked on and start afresh,” explains David. “I’m grateful for that experience because I do believe it helped me grow as a musician and an artist. Initially it kind of threw me for a loop as we had always followed a similar pattern but this was completely different. I’d be sat in the piano room, just cooking and we’d bring ideas to the table and just kind of tweak stuff on the fly. We were there for about six weeks in total and it was all just in the moment and it was a great way of conveying the lyrics by being in the present and channelling current emotions. Normally we’d just be writing on Skype and sharing files but this time it was all raw and organic and added that extra grit to it. When I listen back to it sometimes I forget it’s my band! It’s so cool.”
David takes immense pride in his lyrical work, continually pushing himself creatively and a glaring example of that is by leaving breadcrumbs for longstanding fans to see if they will uncover the synergy between new and old tracks. “I usually draw from personal experiences, The Witch Beckons is actually about an eye disease that I was recently diagnosed with and that song is a story where I kind of painted this image of a witch growing a garden of stars from my eyes. The image I got from the specialist office looked a lot like stars with roots and webs and I applied that imagery into the song. For all the SIGNS OF THE SWARM lyric nerds, they will notice that Tower Of Torsos is a continuance of the saga built from Totem [Absolvere] and Crown Of Nails [Vital Deprivation].”
“The lyrics ‘The nails from my crown now driven into my totem’ is a little sprinkling of sugar to see if anyone spots the connection, like an Easter egg. I like to try and paint pictures like that and create themes. I like to over exaggerate some things to enhance the aesthetic and express how agonising life can be and the personal things you have to endure. When we were in the studio I lost somebody that was very close to me and that put me in a dark place and those struggles with my mental health poured into this album. I wanted to make the listener feel uncomfortable. Everybody seems to forget that mental health awareness is an ongoing thing and it needs to be acknowledged. If it helps just one person I’ve done my job. I also felt like I was giving back to this genre of music which basically saved my life.”
SIGNS OF THE SWARM were working away in the background to see if they could recruit some exciting guest features for the album. Little did they know that one of the biggest figures in modern metal would come and find them first. “Matt Heafy actually hit us up!” Declares David. “We met him while we were on tour with FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY and he hosted a barbecue and everything, a bit of time goes by and we’re in the studio and our manager gets a phone call asking if we want him to feature on the new record. He sent his part back so fast too and it was fucking killer. He’s such a nice guy and what he does for our scene is phenomenal. One feature we tried to get but unfortunately didn’t work out was Jonny Davy from JOB FOR A COWBOY. We got talking, we sent him the track but we couldn’t get our schedules to align. I’m looking to cook up some crazy shit for the next record!”
It was evident throughout our chat that David has always had a distinct fondness of music. Intriguingly, it wasn’t always his intended destination to become the frontman of a prominent deathcore band. “Honestly, it was a complete accident. I was just hanging out with my friends, we were listening to a band and I made a comment about how their vocal technique didn’t even seem that hard to do, they challenged me to do better so I did. They lost their minds and really gassed me up about it and next thing you know I’m with a bunch of my homies making music together. I graduated college, got a degree, got my own place, was doing the adult thing and all of a sudden I got this opportunity to kind of drop everything and not a lot of people would have the confidence to take that kind of chance. I thought I’d ride it out, see what happens and here we are!”
Amongst The Low & Empty is out now via Century Media Records.
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