When I was at university starting in ’90, I remember spending as much time scanning/raiding the racks of magazines at the local Tower Records as time in class. There was a rag I picked up a few issues of there called Industrial Metal. Sure, there were the articles on JUDAS PRIEST, FORBIDDEN etc,; but sprinkled throughout were features on bands such as TREPONEM PAL, SWAMP TERRORISTS and FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY, sparking an interest in and appreciation for the combination of metal’s power and electronic music’s pounding pulse and sonic expansiveness that continues to this day.

Enter SUNSWARM and its debut effort Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn. Distant hum and thrum starts ‘Erasure’ wide gaps in space between planetary as they pass one another in orbit, nearly colliding. Time is taken here, and the duo is in no hurry to get anywhere, more focused on creating a scape in which the mind can wander than an aggressive pound and pummel. And wander it does. Slight blackened rasp to the vocals, almost drone at this point, a more tribal STABBING WESTWARD in the rhythmic delivery.

‘Sunswarm’ nudges against IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT territory, grandiose yet grimed at its beginning, soundbytes and martial machinations assaulting, then reined in as the sampled speech returns. After the alternating sound collage / dissonance of ‘Inside The Torn Apart’ (NAPALM DEATH reference noted), the elegantly titled ‘With Your Beautiful Mind You Deserve So Much Better Than This’ folds in and around itself over its nearly six minutes, nodding sonically to THROBBING GRISTLE in its experimentation and MYSTICUM in its ashen angst, all while proclaiming a message of self-reliance and worth.

Conversely ‘Sour///’ scours, scalds and scrapes at all who would touch, the end result of backing an animal, person, or society into a corner for long enough. Eventually there will be retaliation, and this is that. The labyrinthine aural journey of ‘Rended’ winds us through to the end of SUNSWARM’s offering, but not without leaving us looking over our shoulder for what may still dwell in the shadows; fearful of what may happen if we find ourselves there again, but just as inwardly excited that we may.

Think World Serpent Distribution and Cold Spring labels of the ‘90s churned through the meat grinder of the intervening years, and what you may end up with is Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn. Impressive, and guaranteed to be revisited. I hope this record finds its audience.
Review By: Lord Randall

SUNSWARM
Those Who Do Not Build Must Burn
Independent