Black Swords is an electronic music project that finds Stuart Argabright‘s Black Rain joining forces with the Belgium-based duo Orphan Swords. The trio will release The Future of the Sun EP via the Austrian label Noiztank on March 6th and today we listen to the lead track “The Arc Light Murders“–which just premiered over at self-titled.
From the cut’s claustrophobic beginnings, a slow beating kick drum leaks a toxic resonance before ripping blasts of black noise cloud the thin air. Like the soundtrack to some bleak, sadomasochistic ritual, the mood here is dour, with additional percussive elements such as a hand clap sounding like a stinging slap to the face. Bit-crushed waves of droning sound eventually wash up around the rusted hull of this track as it creaks in the oily ebb and flow of looped noise. Just past midway into “The Arc Light Murders”, a shadowy voice enters the scene and wanders around the fog until the disembodied-sounding vocals gain coherence as a mysteriously chilling rant.
