REVIEW

The fourth album from Swedish post-metal duo A Swarm of the Sun.

Formed in Stockholm by Jakob Berglund (Vo) and Erik Nilsson (Gt/Pf), the duo draws on a diverse set of influences. Jakob’s early exposure to his father’s progressive rock collection, particularly Pink Floyd, shaped his foundational musical taste, while his teenage years were marked by a deep immersion in Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral and Swans’ Soundtracks for the Blind. Today, their sound reflects a preference for dense, dark, and drone-infused progressive/post-rock textures, with favorites including This Will Destroy You, Jakob, and Fourteen Nights at Sea, though they regard Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai as exemplary.

Building on the narrative approach of their previous album, The Woods, A Swarm of the Sun delivers their most expansive work yet with An Empire, spanning six tracks over 71 minutes. The album unfolds through minimalistic, ambient–post-classical textures, over which delicate, shoegaze-tinged clean vocals drift, gradually escalating toward walls of distortion. The dramatic interplay of stillness and intensity evokes a vast, almost cosmic expanse—moving from desolate voids to asteroid belts and culminating in supernova-like climaxes.

Layered instrumentation—including synths, vibraphone, harmonium, musical saw, trombone, and pipe organ—enhances the album’s textural richness, producing a complex elegance that distinguishes it from typical post-metal offerings. Track #3, “The Pyre,” is an 18-minute centerpiece that fully encapsulates the album’s allure, while #5, “The Burning Wall,” opens with a tense, gripping sequence that punctuates the album’s pacing with remarkable finesse. Incorporating elements of progressive rock, post-rock, ambient, post-classical, drone, and shoegaze, An Empire stands as a monumental, immersive requiem.