KNIFE THE SYMPHONY & SWEAR JAR split 12"/CD/DL

I have a lot to say and not much time so hold on... The Consciousness Revolution is coming for us faster than the speed of reality. Their world is ending ours is just beginning. I almost feel sorry for them but that’s the crumbling cookie for ya... Really, we have won the whole time. The world has always been ours... This effort from Cincinnati's own premier label PHRATRY RECORDS is the icing on the cake. It’s a death nail in the Newer New World Order. Control was never theirs... It’s always been ours.

Their world is over ours is beginning.

PHRATRY RECORDS, as I was saying before the second level of Consciousness Revolution talk, is premier... Exploding onto the Cincinnati music scene just a mere handful of years ago it has solidified itself as a leader among its peers documenting not only local but also other acts from beyond any geographic or genre defining boundaries. Phratry has a mission and that mission continues with this effort.

Both these bands are from Cincinnati. One KNIFE THE SYMPHONY (KTS) even serves as Phratry’s principle force. Included behind the drums for KTS is Jerry Dirr, Phratry's leader, founder and director. Some would view Phratry as the vehicle for KTS but that’s just not so. Your not getting it right with this label if that’s how it seems. KTS are the vehicle for Phratry! Just as DISCHORD RECORDS, every band on Phratry is a vehicle for the label... Cincinnati has NEVER had a label like Phratry Records... It’s not just a record label this shit is philosophy.

The KTS side of the 12" features three jams representing this new 'Consciousness Revolution' thing that I’m trying real hard NOT to slip back into and ramble on about... Its not 'spazz-core' it goes beyond 'screamo' but the music is frantic in its delivery. Intense, fast, loud... Hard driving tunes that make you feel invincible. Complicated, deep subject matter delivered cryptically and with precision. There’s a war out there and the KTS side clearly draws the lines between this and that. You (you know who YOU are) are not fooling anybody that doesn’t want to be fooled. KTS are not fools. They are revolutionaries. They are prophets. The bullet in each if their heads (hand delivered) from the neon Armageddon stormish troopers will not be lonely, they will be welcomed as the last ditch effort from a dying effort... KTS will be honored to warm that bullet in their hand heating it up to proper body temperature before its 'party time'.

Yeah, it was a damn shame when AT THE DRIVE IN broke up after that great album (you know which one, don’t even make me tell you) just before, it felt, something better was just peering over the horizon... Well, KTS fill that yearning. Fans of DEFTONES, FUGAZI and DISCHORD RECORDS (in general) take note.

Despite "Take Care" being 'my new fucking jam dude' I must ask you at this time to proceed to approximately 3:38 into the jam "Cotton Gin" by SWEAR JAR and you hear what this band is all about... It’s moment of pure genius that as of the variety that SWEAR JAR could only create. Listen...

Hear that 'gasp' or is it more of a sigh... An exhale... “Huff-Huff”…Whatever you wanna call it. Genius. Absolutely genius.

Just like any band out there, SWEAR JAR has had high moments and low moments.
Good times and bad times but the thing about SWEAR JAR is you can’t tell when those bad time and low moments are prevalent. SWEAR JAR brings 'it' to every live show or plastic record that you buy with their sounds imbedded.

If KTS is the main attack of a campaign the invasion, then SWEAR JAR are the guerilla warfare harassment of the occupying force. Abrasive punk like a mix of THE MINUTEMEN with equal parts BIGBOUS and GANG OF FOUR except meaner. Yeah, I said meaner!  Dual vocals wailing vocals, screamed vocals... Either way, dissonant. The music is fast, frantic... Like amore disjointed chaotic KTS sound. Ripping from part to part in every expertly crafted song. SWEAR JAR songs are a multi-layered Tsunami of sound. It’s ‘art-punk’ to me. Sonic Art. Sonic terrorism. SWEAR JAR are violent without being violent. Musical personification of anger without being angry. SWEAR JAR sonically resemble a surprise wound, like a accidental cut from a kitchen knife when you’re dicing up onions... Your cut and your bleeding badly and your doing all the tricks by applying pressure and cleaning the wound out well but just as you check to see if the bleeding has stopped, you view the wound and it appears bloodless. Has the bleeding stopped? Is it band-aid time? Then, the blood instantaneously resurfaces in the cut and you reapply the bandage. You will check again and repeat this procedure until that time comes where you can apply the band-aid...

That cut will hurt more tomorrow. It will throb and irritate you until it’s fully healed. The cut will aggravate you and keep reminding you all weekend that its still there when you accidentally bump it into whatever you are bound to bump it against...

SWEAR JAR's offering on this split... 5 bitterly toxic attacks on the infrastructure of the occupying force go beyond a requirement. The are the 'it', more of the 'it' that SWEAR JAR has delivered so well in the past. I have never heard a SWEAR JAR that I didn’t like. Some are better than others but all of them rail. Its punk without being typical. Its hardcore without being chugga-chugga atypical. SWEAR JAR play as is a new psycho-blues by guitars that spit lightning bolts.

I would go so gar to say that SWEAR JAR are Cincinnati's best kept secret that’s not trying to be a secret. If you like fast and aggressive music and you haven’t seen SWEAR JAR yet... Then correct that shit. The debut LP "Cuss" from SWEAR JAR is still available and the 5 songs from this split add nicely to their array of material.

This split 12" is essential listening for punk hardcore and music fans everywhere especially here in Cincinnati.

“Take care...Thanks man… for getting me there…”

SWEAR JAR on Bandcamp

KNIFE THE SYMPHONY on facebook

PHRATRY RECORDS Website

Go Here to read a ...Thwart! interview with Shane Chaney from SWEAR JAR