Best Albums of 2012! (5)

5. Swans. The Seer

Michael Gira and his Swans have been around for 30 years. In that time they have been described as the heaviest, most evil, most ear drum shattering band around. Often at the same time. Imagine Sonic Youth times 10 if you will.

Unlike the five albums prior to this one where context is everything almost, here we have lyrics that aren't set in any sort of emotional sphere. Their aim is to form themselves around the music itself like hermits to rocks.

You are not dipping into a 3-course transcendental meal at The Fat Duck. This a heavy gluttonous steak, tough and chewy but at the same time the best thing you've ever eaten. One can't eat it twice in the same day because that would mean girths expanding to the outer reaches of the Milky Way...

What I mean to say is this. We have a two hour plus rampaging monster on our hands. 3 tracks ranging from 19-32 minutes and many others around the 10 minute mark. This is an album that DEMANDS your attention, to its fullest.

I can gush about how this is a culmination of what post rock has postured. A distillation of bands such as Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Godspeed You, Black Emperor! to name but a few well known contemporaries.

But where Swans, and The Seer itself, differentiate themselves is the sheer terror and venomous pomp they instil even over such daunting track lengths.

To be played on the best, most booming amp and speaker set you can find.

Recycle this: Whole Album