Swörn – Keshan
Dotto / I Dischi Del Minollo – 2022
Rock, Stoner, Desert, Psych, Metal, Post, Prog
Rated: ****
Back in 2019 Kyle SB / Shastabeast reviewed their self-titled debut album and now, three years later Italian power-trio Swörn is back with their sophomore record Keshan. And where the sound of their first release might have walked a lot through the Palm Desert, this one has changed direction quite a bit. Using much more emotive metal touches, the six tracks on Keshan are multi layered and highly dynamic, causing the listener to meander through post metal, prog rock and psychedelic stoner landscapes and to dream of multicolored tapestries filled with images of ancient gods and goddesses. And taking cues from the ancient ones, first track, named after the Aztec god of water of rain and of blood, immediately ascends towards the heavy metal heaven, building and building, until the knife finally and unavoidably enters your body. Once again we here an album carefully crafted, with more in mind than just riffing away. And if opener Tlaloc wasn’t the perfect testament to that fact, than surely following track Seito Kara Kyōshi-e is. Going for the post rock doorway, opening up the sound, the landscape and the slow build towards a more rocking end, the track expertly tells a tale of a teacher having to battle its student. It’s their destiny and always has been. Just as Swörn’s destiny will be to keep repeating the mantra to invoke the coming of Rabarama, the hypnotic fourth track will surely put you into a hazy state of being; dreaming of a female goddess dancing her seductive dance to the ever building, ever more mesmerizing sounds. Keshan is an expertly woven sound cloth displaying all you need in spellbinding stonerrock colors, captivating post and prog rock approaches and magnetic psychedelic rock. Swörn will seduce you!
(Written by JK)
