Monday, May 22, 2017

Swaylex - Raging Rapids

 
Swaylex - Raging Rapids 


Swaylex’s “Raging Rapids” is probably the hardest and heaviest of his recent YouTube uploads.  Swaylex’s warm, yet crunchy, Ibanez guitar sound is the primary mover for this tune, but he also shows the same tendency for interesting drummer complementing this track that listeners can hear on his other upload “Scrale”. To Swaylex’s credit, he avoids the same over-indulgence plaguing many of his contemporaries – everything here is focused and streamlined to the best possible effect. The composition and performance, likewise, exude a confidence you can detect in both the music and video presentation – there’s a swagger here that never stretches the boundaries of taste and, instead, draws you deeper into his musical world despite the song’s brief duration. Swaylex, even at his crunchiest, gives listeners numerous melodic hooks to hang onto. “Raging Rapids” is a powerful performance and composition from the first. 
 
There’s a lot of power in this song. Swaylex structures it just right – from the opening wash of wailing guitar notes, the seamless segue into the song’s primary riff, and the perfect accompaniment from rhythm guitar, bass, and drums, “Raging Rapids” has an impressively full sound that never dips in quality or intensity. His home recordings might strike some, without taking a listen, as doomed to amateurish. That isn’t the case. He has full command over each instrument and weaves the different parts together with the sort of clarity we expect from longtime musical veterans, not relatively newcomers to the scene. It is obviously that this is a young performer who has worked mightily to polish his skills and presentation alike in such a way to make the best possible impression on his listeners.  It has a surprising horror or thriller movie character with its sustained, sharp guitar notes and the menacing riffing accompanying those touches underscores this effect in a memorable way. 
 
It never reaches too far either. He knows what he wants the song to accomplish, seemingly from the first, and it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that the song has been well rehearsed before he ever dared commit the performance to recording or film. Fortunately for us, however, it has a live and off the cuff quality that sounds like he hasn’t lived with the song too much or too long and, instead, is striking while the iron of inspiration is hot. This is the central factor that sets his work apart from similar musicians promoting themselves in such a way. Swaylex’s music is alive with a passion that is quite impossible to fake and it comes across with a very first take feel. There’s no sloppiness here however. Instead, it’s a direct and powerful track that grabs listeners’ by the ear and forces them to listen. Never under duress – instead, you will be grateful to hear every note and it never threatens to overwhelm you. 


William Elgin

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