After dropping standalone single “Amongst The Low & Empty” last month, Pittsburgh Deathcore unit SIGNS OF THE SWARM is back to reveal their upcoming fifth full-length of the same name: “Amongst The Low & Empty” will be unleashed via Century Media Records on July 28th. To coincide with this announcement, the band has dropped an official video for the new single, “Tower Of Torsos”, directed by Joey Durango.
Drummer Bobby Crow comments about the single: “We wanted to bring the old school, in-your-face vibes of our favorite OG Deathcore bands – with a fresh spin. We endearingly call it psycho-music. It’s something of a continuation of what we started with ‘The Collection,’ musically, while the lyrical core is about doing whatever you must to come out on top. If you caught us on the road with WHITECHAPEL recently, this one should be familiar to you!”
Vocalist David Simonich adds: “Mike and I were BINGING the hell out of the ‘Hannibal’ show while writing lyrics. It definitely pulled out our inner psycho, especially for this one where we wanted to paint a repulsive picture of a person chasing the idea of becoming god. The path to ascend is only to kill and build a monument of misery: his tower of torsos.”
Regarding “Amongst The Low & Empty”, Crow explains: ” ‘Amongst The Low & Empty’ is more than just a title; it’s also a feeling or state of mind. The phrase first came up in the lyrics of our last album, ‘Absolvere’, and became a driving force for our band ever since. When it came time for us to enter the studio with Josh Schroeder last November, ‘Low And Empty’ resonated in a very special way with the band.
We had just completed well-over a year of non-stop worldwide touring and had to finalize an album we barely had time to wrap our heads around. We were literally low (energy) and feeling empty (of ideas). I still marvel at what we pulled off primarily in under a month (with a few extra days later to add the album’s penultimate closing duo).
If it weren’t for the ideas flying around Josh’s special studio, that time could have kept me feeling low and empty. I was very alone, locked away writing the music – we’d only come in with somewhere between 4-5 songs – with the only break from my strained and drained thoughts and ideas being visits from Schroeder to check in and add his genius.
David and Michael wrote lyrics in another room, with the prose spewed forth balancing the beauty/beast meter, with Dave’s recognizably rabid voice bringing it back to SIGNS when I’d push our sound boundaries (soundaries?). I’d always ask myself, ‘How can we make this moment feel beautiful and terrifying at the same time?’. Fortunately, the lyrics’ grace contrasted gnarly subject matter to achieve and elevate that goal. It’s kind of like the art of the album – serenely calming yet brutally when you truly take it in – inverted; musically we’re brutal up-front with the beauty underlying.
This album breathes a new sense of life into SIGNS OF THE SWARM that was much needed. We’re grateful for and proud of our previous works and the platform that they have provided us over the last ten years, but ‘Amongst The Low & Empty’ is a true and pure representation of each member’s current creative and performative abilities that elevates the passion and confidence of the band tenfold.”
The resulting eleven tracks are so destructively deafening, it blew out Josh Schroeder’s subwoofer! “We’ve always been a Deathcore band,” states Bobby Crow, the quartet’s longest-standing member, who serves as drummer and main songwriter. “But this record is a lot MORE – it’s got Death Metal, Metalcore, Djent, some industrial stuff…We wanted to make something that was just heavy.”
This weekend, SIGNS OF THE SWARM wraps up their Mexican tour, before hitting Toledo Death Fest next week. Upon album release, the band will play several special shows in the US, then head overseas for the summer; European fans can catch them at some of the biggest festivals, in addition to co-headlining off-dates with HUMANITY’S LAST BREATH and more. To finish off the season, SIGNS OF THE SWARM will trek to the UK for a headliner with TO THE GRAVE and HARBINGER.
“Amongst The Low & Empty” track listing:
- Amongst the Low & Empty
- Tower of Torsos
- Pray for Death
- Borrowed Time
- Between Fire & Stone
- Shackles Like Talons
- Dreamkiller
- The Witch Beckons
- Echelon
- Faces Without Names
- Malady
You can watch the official video for “Tower Of Torsos” below:
