(IDM, Experimental) Swarm Intelligence - Faction - 2014, MP3, 320 kbps

Swarm Intelligence's first album for Ad Noiseam is the densest and most interesting piece of beat-driven industrial music that has been sent our way in the recent times. Drawing from a past in IDM and techno as well as his involvement in Berlin's current new noise scene, Swarm Intelligence marries here some of the heaviest basses around with an uncompromising level of distortion and astute beats. Heavy, enthralling, modern, dark: an impressive new step by a musician to watch (and listen to) very closely.
Dark, menacing, oppressive: Swarm Intelligence's first album appears at first as a monolithic work of aggressive distortion. But stopping there wouldn't do justice to this musician, whose début album is a carefully crafted ensemble. From the heavy bass-drums of the opening "False Flag" to the glitchy atmospheres of "Run Interference", Swarm Intelligence's album is at the meeting point of many genres, all of them torn and twisted into an over-driven and bleak new form.
The cliché goes that music moves in circle. It is interesting to hear with "Faction" (or the works of like-minded young noise artists with which Swarm Intelligence had shared the stage) a return to the heavy industrial noise of the early 2000s. A new generation of noise artists have emerged out of the techno, IDM and dubstep scene, producing a raw and uncompromising sound which takes some core elements from their original styles and mixes them with uncompromising, dark and heavy industrial sound. Swarm Intelligence lies right at the center of this new movement, alongside such acts as Oyaarss, Fausten, Dead Fader, Emptyset, or Ancient Methods. Each of them comes from a distinct genre, but all meet in a burgeoning, heavily distorted new take at the rhythmic noise fury of the early 2000's.
Drawing from his rich IDM and techno culture as well as his years of productions, both solo or together with his labelmate and long-time collaborator Monolog, Simon Hayes unveils with “Faction” is first full-length album, following releases on highly regarded digital labels such as Acroplane or Acre Recordings. This Irish musician, now relocated to Berlin and, as a sizable part of Ad Noiseam's roster there, is working for one of the world's leading music software company, takes us here on a trip which is at the same time massive, distorted and dark, but which is also obviously a highly musical and varied work. It is time to let waves of overdrive wash over us again. Sometimes club compatible, sometimes intended for the headphones, “Faction” is without a doubt one of the most interesting piece of beat-driven industrial music we have come across recently, and obviously a very enthralling swarm.