Signs of the Swarm

About Signs of the Swarm

Signs of the Swarm started in Pittsburgh in 2014, right when deathcore was splitting into camps. You had bands keeping it traditional, and you had bands seeing how low they could tune their guitars before they stopped being guitars. Signs of the Swarm picked the second option.

The early lineup centered around vocalist David Simonich, and they wasted no time getting material out. Their debut album "Senseless Order" dropped in 2016 through Unique Leader Records, which was the right home for what they were doing. The production was thick enough to spread with a knife, and the breakdowns had that specific gravity that makes you forget what you were doing. "Cesspool of Ignorance" and "Death Whistle" became setlist regulars pretty much immediately.

They followed up fast with "The Disfigurement of Existence" in 2017. This one pushed further into the slam-influenced territory, with gutturals that sounded like they were coming from somewhere beneath the earth's crust. By this point they'd figured out their identity: crushing, suffocating heaviness with just enough technicality to keep things from turning into pure caveman riffing. The title track became one of those songs that other deathcore bands' fans would reference when arguing about who goes hardest.

Then came the vocalist change. Simonich left in 2018, and CJ McCreery from Lorna Shore stepped in. This wasn't a lateral move. McCreery brought a different dimension to the vocals, more range, more dynamics, while still delivering the requisite lows. "Vital Deprivation" in 2019 showed what this lineup could do. Songs like "Pernicious" and "Hollow Prison" had more air in them, more room to breathe before they crushed you. The production got cleaner without losing weight.

2021's "Absolvere" marked another shift. They signed with Nuclear Blast, which meant bigger budgets and bigger stages. The album felt more considered, less interested in proving anything. "Dreaming Desecration" and "Condemned to Suffer" showed a band comfortable enough to let songs build instead of starting at maximum intensity. McCreery's vocals were doing things that bordered on melodic, which in deathcore terms means you could almost identify distinct pitches.

Their most recent album "Amongst the Low & Empty" came out in 2023, and they'd fully committed to this more atmospheric version of themselves. Still heavy, still built around breakdowns that could stop traffic, but with more texture. The title track sprawls out in ways their earlier stuff never bothered with.

They're currently touring pretty consistently, playing the usual deathcore circuit but also picking up slots on bigger metal packages. The current lineup feels stable, which in deathcore is never a given. They've gone from Pittsburgh basement band to one of the names people mention when talking about where heavy music is right now.

Their shows are visceral and punishing. The pit is compact and brutal, crowd-surfers less common than a tight, churning mass. Acord's vocals hit harder in person, and the band locks in with a precision that makes the chaos feel organized. Not spectacle. Just violence.

Known for Plague Flesh, The Gestating Mass, Condemned, Feast, Infiltration

See Signs of the Swarm Live