Thursday, May 04, 2017

Band Review: Dead Swords


Dead Swords is an ambient band from New Jersey, started by Alex Rosamilia of The Gaslight Anthem and Corey Perez of I Am the Avalance (plus at least one more band each). I came to the band because of Rosamilia.

I was not sure what to make of them at first. There is a beauty to the music, but it is combined with a brutal harshness, living up to genre labels like "doom" and "drone". "Interlude 03" is crushing.

I began to see a context when I looked at their Facebook story.

"Listening to Dead Swords is like being lost in the loneliest darkness. Theirs is a world of overwhelming static and feedback, or eternities-long melancholy, of the purest beauty shrouded and obscured by the blackest night."

That confirmed that it was intentional, though I wasn't really sure that it was for me.

As luck would have it, I am posting their review on a day when an abomination of a president signs an executive order that refers to freedom to deprive others as religious freedom and the House is celebrating putting healthcare out of the reach of millions by bringing in beer.

If there is ever a time when it is necessary to have music that can accompany you through chilling darkness and wring some beauty out of the void, this would appear to be that time.

Thank you Dead Swords.



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