Load Records seems to be the label of choice for noise rock duos — witness Lightning Bolt, Mouthus, USAISAMONSTER and now Sword Heaven, two guys from Columbus Ohio that play electronics, horns, drums and… sheet metal. They describe themselves as “dirge noise,” and though their MySpace page lists “Slow Stuff” among their influences, this debut album sounds less like the Swans or the Melvins than that description implies.

The opening track, “Town Hag,” sets the pattern — its hoarse, screamed vocals, and various metallic, subway-skidding sounds come off like a cross between Wolf Eyes and Spectralist composers like Iancu Dumitrescu or Horatiu Radulescu. “Skinned and Glued” is propelled by a variant on the Bo Diddley beat, and the repetition and chanting vocals suggest that Sword Heaven is an unlikely Midwest answer to Brooklyn's Religious Knives, another group that fits '60s rock moves inside 21st century noise parameters. “Faceless Nameless” starts with squalling, seagull-like sounds and moaning, echoed vocals. The group adds a drum pattern, building subtly from a single stroke to a complete beat over the track's 13-minute duration. Those who can't get enough of the Load Records aesthetic, or the current crop of noise… read more »