I found a real underlying sense of a hunger for chaos that is present throughout ‘Corpsetrader’. Swarn delivered the goods on that heavy chainsaw guitar sound. Many of the speedier tracks have more hardcore sounding rhythms, which contribute a somewhat urgent and rough feel.
The vocals are interesting. They seem farther back in the mix, giving them something of a distant, echoed sound and are used almost as another instrument layered beneath or beside the guitars rather than consistently dominating the front. In terms of delivery, the vocals are by no means grindy at all. They actually have a sharpened thrashy feel in parts which works well with the darkly inclined nature of this EP.
What I found appreciated here though is that this is by no means just constant fast rifts. ‘Barbed wire orchards’ in particular gets down, with a more steady and ponderous groove, which offers the listener a momentary respite while not at all detracting from the weight that Swarn have constructed on this EP. There is some hint of Entombed or Dismember, however the pace driving the rhythms and slightly distant vocals seem to distinguish Swarn from a traditional template.
In short this is raw, dark and messy, however the term messy is used here in the most appealing manner. I found ‘Corpsetrader’ to a be quite cohesive EP. The riffs hit, the rhythms remained interesting, and the vocals added the strangest most affecting ambiance of the whole thing which remained with me.
