Destructo Swarmbots-The Mountain EP
Public Guilt Records-PG002-2004
By Josh Phillips
The Mountain EP is 3 tracks, 18 minutes long and squeezed oddly onto a 3” CD. Maybe a fitting format for this release, a warped journey through a landscape of ambient sounds.
Destructo Swarmbots play distorted experimental noise and rarely venture into territory most people would consider “musical.”
The first song, “36 Beautiful Songs”, comprises the majority of the album and clocks in at over 12 minutes in length. There are faint ambient sounds present, rising from the blur on occasion and various noises that sound like a huge magnet flying over your head back and forth constantly. This song creates an atmosphere where you are either walking through the junkyard from the movie
The Brave Little Toaster, or you’re on a barren plain on a far away planet, about to be attacked by a swarm of insects unknown to man. Towards the end of the track, more elements come into play and the guitar creates a wave of sounds that would resemble dancing goblins or some sounds from
The Twilight Zone. Overall, an incredibly strange piece that really carries on longer than it had to. Following up is the album’s best song, “Saving Grace on an 8 hour connection”, which is as close to traditional music as this band gets. Thoughtful acoustic passages sweep across the landscape in this 2 minute cut and give a glimpse of what the band could be like with less experimentation. This piece is much more interesting to me and would have made the album better were it a longer piece. The final track is entitled “Holy Innocents” and runs about 3 and half minutes of this abstract art that is quite similar to the first cut.
This EP runs only 18 minutes, but that’s plenty and maybe even too much. There are little subtleties, but not enough to keep it real interesting. Put it on as background music on a cold night, I doubt this is something you’ll throw on for enjoyment, though in certain moods, when you just want something somber to keep your mind on, maybe this will work. Honestly, I’m pretty sure that
Destructo Swarmbots are pretty good at whatever they do, it’s just that whatever they do isn’t something I find all that useful. If you’re looking for something strange, something ambient, something noisy or some abstract art, look in this band’s direction.
5/10
Official Destructo Swarmbots Website
Official Public Guilt Website
