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SWARN
Whispers From Beyond

Warhorn (2022)
Rating: 8/10

Oozing into earshot like some rank and fetid Swedish death metal heap of the macabre, Estonian metalheads Swarn have erupted with one of the year’s biggest surprises. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this album having not followed the band who since their formation in 2016 have released a few singles and EPs, as well as a full-length debut – Black Flame Order – in 2019.

This trio does have a strong Swedish vibe although the vocals have more of a distorted bite, and while the songs are a tad overlong this remains a rather atmospheric and dank death metal offering that is destructive as a doom-laden beast. And this is particularly evident on the humid opener ‘Grimoire XIII’ which lumbers for its duration as an ashen, aching lump of evil.

The buzzsaw guitar tone of ‘Mirror Entity’ seethes effectively, but what set it apart are those vocals which are grim, throaty warbles of utter death. And those who take great pleasure for more foreboding expressions of gloom will revel in the stark ‘Whisperer From Stars’ which is a cosmically weird traipse into interstellar stratospheres combined with murky releases before the strange and sinister chugs of ‘Abysmal Hallucinations’ completes this six-track affair. The latter is a gargantuan, abyssal cut running for 20 minutes, but it drags you into its clammy hole like some clammy octopus dragging you into its foul beak of despair.

Swarn are happy to supply pace within the low-spirited framework of what is essentially grainy death metal, but there’s still a lot going on as the band experiments with creepy, stark musicianship to create those unpleasant atmospherics. Of all the tracks, it’s only really ‘Fearlancers’ which nods to the “normal” side of death metal, but it’s still a rather cold and hammering outburst that for me evokes images of high, cold stone walls and cavernous realms of unnameable horror.

Swarn may not garner the interest they deserve, but hopefully their varied scheming amidst those horrid flurries and shadowy trudges will bring them some exposure.

Neil Arnold

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