According to the press release for this album, one of the members of Sword Heaven has achieved the Guinness World Record for the Hula Hoop Marathon, at 75 hours. This may seem like a silly bit of trivia, but it demonstrates the amount of patience this Columbus, Ohio duo have. Apart from a 6-minute breather (relatively speaking) entitled “Driving Through Old Town,” the tracks that begin and end this album are both in the 10+ minute range, are both extremely noisy, and especially in the case of “So What,” are numbingly repetitive. “Dead End” offers a bit more variation, with drums that seem to bash in a diagonal pattern instead of a straight line. But “So What,” which isn’t far off from being a demented evil(-er) cousin of the Ministry song of the same name, feels like being clubbed in the head over and over and over and over again amidst an electrical storm. For most people, this would be considered torture. For Sword Heaven, this feels like release. This is perfect music to bash and moan to if you’re completely fed up and just fucking hate everything. Fans of early Swans, Whitehouse and Wolf Eyes will not be disappointed.
8/10
