Like much of the Bridge Nine roster, Dead Swans temper traditional
hardcore with contemporary influences and a personal voice. While their
first two releases sometimes veered into bro-core territory —
using metallic double-bass patterns and mile-thick guitar crunch to
little avail — these U.K. boys play to their strengths on
Sleepwalkers. Nick Worthington’s emotive throat-shredding
— a mixture of nervous-breakdown desperation and raw
everyman-rage — allows Dead Swans to transcend the single-minded
hardcore notion of anger. Of course, the sonic canvas Worthington
paints his tales of frustration and disillusionment on is more than a
plain, morbid black. The guitars construct a fortress-like wall of
distortion, then rip through that wall with jagged, shimmering melody
lines and chaotic gear-jamming shrieks. Throw in a rhythm section that
can do more than just gallop and hammer out mosh-ready half-times, and
you’ve got an inventive hardcore band with room to grow. In a genre
known for adhering to tradition, that’s saying a lot. — Matt
Whelihan
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2009.
