“It Swarms” in Sludge for Mouth of the Architect

Aside from this cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” Mouth of the Architect released in 2010 my exposure to these post-sludgesters is pretty limited. But Intronaut likes ’em enough to invite them out on the road on their MetalSucks-sponsored tour this spring so they can’t be half bad, right? That’s a noteworthy stamp of approval if ever there was one. And with a new album on the way now’s a good time to find out what MotA are all about.

Pitchfork is streaming a song called “It Swarms” right now. This is pretty heady, post-post stuff in the vein of Isis, Neurosis and Cult of Luna. The first half of the track follows largely in that tradition and IMO is kinda run of the mill. But then things start to get really interesting when the track takes a turn for the epic, launching into a triumphant build up and instrumental section punctuated by an uplifting, grand guitar solo. Next it gets all slow and doomy, but no less epic before coming to a close. I also really dig the keyboards on this track, not used in the usual cliched metal way, just to add a bit of texture and to fill in the cracks. Though I was a bit skeptical at first, this track has certainly piqued my interest to dig into the album in full.

Dawning comes out on June 25th via Translation Loss and is available for pre-order here.