The Swan King, Eyes Like Knives: Building a Noisy Neuschwanstein
They’re the second band I know of to source their moniker from King Ludwig II of Bavaria — the other is the Canadian Madking Ludwig — but The Swan King are going for something entirely different musically than the progressive stonerisms the Montreal outfit emit. On Eyes Like Knives, the Chicago trio’s short Seventh Rule Recordings debut LP, they blend post-hardcore with a kind of brash heaviness, the punkish vocals of guitarist Dallas Thomas serving as the consistent line drawn across eight otherwise deceptively varied tracks. Eyes Like Knives is over in a meager 27 minutes, but feels complete in a musical sense, seems to be a full expression of an idea, rather than something that’s just trying to get the word out. So we’ll call it an album. Honestly, had The Swan King gone all out for another 20 or 25 minutes, Eyes Like Knives probably would have come out really redundant, but the energy they bring to these songs and the crispness with which they’re presented comes across on the record without sounding repetitive.
As noted above, they’re from Chicago, so of course the album was produced by – wait for it – Sanford Parker, who does the job one would expect him to do when it comes to capturing the angular peculiarities of the material on Eyes Like Knives, balancing the jagged riffs that drive the songs without losing track of bassist Jamie Drier’s contributions to the low end or drummer Zafar Musharraf’s placement at the fore. The album is structured into sides for the eight tracks following a five-second “Test Tone” intro. A two-minute song leads to two three-minute songs, then a four-minute song, and the cycle is repeated on the second half of the album. I don’t know if that’s something the trio did on purpose, or if it’s emblematic of their songwriting process or what, but it’s interesting anyway. As to the songs themselves, opening tracks like “Good Deeds” and “Cloaked into the Façade” are chunky and heavy-landing, modern and brash, reminiscent in some ways of earlier Sweet Cobra, but not as outwardly abrasive. “Peace Love Murder” proves a highlight for the subtle inclusion of melody in Thomas’ playing, the punkish side taking a back seat to something more substantial tonally but still upbeat and vibrant.
They show a little variety between the darker “Entertain the King” and neo-prog noodling of “Staring Through Skulls,” but it’s not really until the closing title-track that The Swan King’s potential shows itself again. “Invisible Hands” is memorable for its “You vs. them/Them vs. us/Us vs. you/You vs. you” lyric and kind of (again) jagged riff from Thomas met by Musharraf’s best performance on the album, but “Eyes Like Knives” brings back some of the melodiciscm of “Peace Love Murder,” finds Thomas sitting back a bit on the vocals, and works at a less frantic pace to affect the noisy foreboding that Detroit outfit Year of the Pig do so well.
Across the board, it’s not really my thing personally, and I don’t know if I’ll come back to Eyes Like Knives for repeat listens, but for what they’re doing, The Swan King manage to work some individuality into a deeply-tread sonic path. For that, and for the convergences between post-hardcore and aggressive noise, the album should have no trouble finding friendly ears among the crowded Chicago underground, and if The Swan King can continue to work in the melody without losing sight of the crassness of a song like “Staring Through Skulls,” all the better for them down the line. For now, it’s not that Eyes Like Knives falls flat or doesn’t accomplish what it sets out to do, it just doesn’t jibe with my own taste. That doesn’t mean it can’t with yours, and it doesn’t mean it’s not worth giving it a chance, it just means I’m not into hardcore. Not everything is going to click with every listener.
Tags: Chicago, Illinois, Seventh Rule, The Swan King
