On 29th September 2021, the day before the launch of debut full-length Noose Almighty, Swamp Coffin bass player Martyn White attempted to take his own life. Following his treatment and recovery, shortly before the album’s release in November that year, Martyn’s father and vocalist/guitarist Jon Rhodes’ mother-in-law both passed away within hours of each other.
This is the backdrop to which Swamp Coffin started to write their heaviest, most powerful songs yet. Now the band are back with their crushing new album, ‘Drowning Glory’. The writing process was triggered by one conversation – “this band is f*cking cursed”.
The songs on Noose Almighty and 2019 EP Flatcap Bastard Features were motivated by the tragic death of vocalist/guitarist Jon Rhodes’ brother in law in 2017, on the day their first demo was to be recorded, and the house fire 9 months later that left him and his family homeless.
The topics those records covered, mens’ mental health, grief and disenchantment, are built on and explored further than ever before on ‘Drowning Glory’, the lyrical content as honest and uncompromising as the riffs they’re set to. Jon explains,
“It feels like a relief to be getting Drowning Glory out in to the world. This album finally puts to bed a lot of the grief and trauma that has hung over this band since it’s inception. The fact we’ve done it with the best songs we’ve ever written is the icing on the cake.
It took a year from the release of Noose Almighty for us to even think about writing more music. The anger that fueled both that album and the Flatcap EP just wasn’t there, everything that happened in late 2021 just left me numb to the idea of writing songs. Taking some time off really allowed my feelings to stew and when the motivation was finally there, all that pain I’d suppressed came flooding out. Memories of events from the last eight years, that I thought I’d come to terms with, all suddenly resurfaced and I think that’s evident in how relentlessly heavy these new songs are.”
The riffs are bigger, the grooves heavier and lean further in to their death metal and hardcore influences. This is a band baring their souls in a way only they know how – fuzz, volume and screaming, as demonstrated with first single ‘Know You’re Worthless’. Jon adds,
“Know You’re Worthless came together fairly early in the writing process but we knew straight away it had to be the album opener. Six minutes of filth, chugs and pinch harmonics. Lyrically it revolves around the question of when some people say “Know your worth” are they really saying “Know your place”. The government, your job, abusive family or partners, anyone who might want to hold you down for their own gain. This song is basically telling those people to get f*cked.”
Check it out, here
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