Sometimes when I add the video’s from youtube to accompany these posts I am a bit conflicted. Some of the video’s show that, live a band can be a very different beast than what’s on the record itself. A case in point is Shit and Shine. The joyous, collective drumfests that pepper youtube are not quite representative of their pretty humourless yet no less exciting recorded work. For this post on Sword Heaven the video I’ve added is, in my humble opinion, is spot on. What Sword Heaven produce is the sound of early Swans updated for the post Wolf Eye’s generation. Entrance is a bleak, repetitive noise/rock opus where light and sound are enveloped by a black hole of malevolence. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Swans early work. I’ve always found it terribly dull. But Sword Heaven work for me in a way I thought it wouldn’t. Perhaps its because much of Entrance reminds me of the visceral death-disco of Wolf Eye’s seminal Village Oblivia or it may be because Sword Heaven slowly evolve their tracks and propel them forward in a way that makes them far more interesting than their early 1980’s kin. For a duo from Columbus, Ohio, Sword Heaven make a huge racket, creating repetitive, lurching noise and electronic fuckery that both suck the air out of the room yet remain just on the rock side of the rock/noise divide. Load have released some great records over the years and you should add Entrance to that list.
Ducks Battle Satan 