“Swarm” is the new track from Los Angeles’ Zero Theorem. Just as its name suggests, this anthemic song is deserving of all the buzz that it garners. The numbers add up – this song calculates societal defaults in a gloomy, but blunt rhythm progression. Anchored by droning guitars and lasting beats, “Swarm” simply rocks.
URL: https://zerotheoremband.com/
Zero Theorem is comprised of lead singer Caesar, guitarist Roy Lev-Ari, guitarist Max Georgiev, bassist Eloy Palacios and drummer Jake Hayden. The rock band crushed onto the record scene with 2018’s EP ATARAXIS and landed on the BDS Active Rock Chart with “Area” and “Becoming”. Last year they released The Killing I EP that featured the stunner “You”. “Swarm” is from the anticipated follow-up EP, The Killing II. These guys have embraced the appeal of bands like Bush, Disturbed and Fiver Finger Death Punch.
“Swarm” has lyrics that can be very hard to discern – I don’t say that in a bad way. Caesar’s voice is really interesting and he has a lot of gumption. I was really swept into and sucked in by the racing guitars and zizz of Hayden’s drums. I was head banging pretty hard core, and what I could glean were lines like “keep the gift you have”. The gist of the song is that we’re living an age of conformity, of trying to outdo each other as Instagram influencers and what not. This song tugs at the realities – who is real? Who is fake? Be you, these guys call out into the night. Break the mold. “Right inside a ghost,” Caesar sings, furthering the concept that some people are shells of who they once were, or could have been. We’re stuck in this version of ourselves that is neither real nor dead, we’re just living every day without true, human connection.
While the bursting guitars are pressuring against the pulsating bass and drum, there’s a fist-in-the-air declaration of “swarm!” under the mix , just like a swarm of bees arrowing through the song’s middle. It’s almost tangible how the motion of scrambling, devouring an entity that sound makes. It must eat at your soul, this song suggests, to be a part of the colony that is eating up the world, a uniformed posse.
The double-guitar attack from Lev-Ari and Georgiev makes for a raw, metallic sound. Paired with the percussion and Palacios’ bass playing, the murmurs of Caesar’s voice sustain a thorough listening experience. I was even more on the edge of my seat about the bridge, when things really clicked into high, amped up speed after a short, but sweet respite. Attack, attack, the guitars instruct. This boost gave the song’s music bed even more, much like today’s societal pressures, more complexity. Zero Theorem aren’t reinventing the modern alternative rock sound, but they sure as hell are making a lot of noise in forging out a one-of-a-kind tone. “Swarm” is a convincing, powerful track that measures up to be one of 2020’s knockout hits. It’s a song that grows and grows on you with each listen.
Jodi Marxbury