The Seer

A little bit of wiggle room in the shipping box. Plays well. That's all you really need to know.

I was initially underwhelmed by this album, which made all the critics' best-of lists for 2012, but eventually I realized what everyone was raving about. The thing is, though, THE SEER is not equally superb throughout. The second disc is just amazing, so don't be too hasty to form your opinion after only hearing Disc One. The opening track (Lunacy) is fairly light, and there is a clear minimalist influence. Then Disc Two shoots us screaming into space on a dark, psychedelic voyage!Michael Gira's reformed Swans are more powerful than ever. The more recent TO BE KIND (2014) is more consistent than THE SEER -- it's stronger throughout -- but it does not reach the same heights.The music of Michael Gira and Swans is raw, visionary and uncompromising. His vocals remind of both Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, but the music is sui generis. Listening is like plugging your mind directly into the black hole at the heart of the galaxy.

This album changed me. This album is unlike no other. The cover mentioned that it was "oblivion through sound," which is by no means inaccurate. Whether you can withstand two hours of this blinding, mesmerizing, elaborately enveloping devilishness is up to you, but even if you consider yourself musically adventurous, be very, very ready. This was all I would allow myself to listen to for at least two weeks, as I knew its influence would be unmatched for the rest of my musically exploratory life. Every one of my roots were shaken to their raw, dark, cores and lifted to a state of being that nothing else has brought me to. If you are willing to let this album take you in, it may be all too rewarding. If you are not, then don't even spend the money. This is not entirely safe stuff to expose yourself to. It is beyond all else. Again, if you buy it, do not brace yourself, but be ready for an all-consuming cherishing of the darker side of every one of us.

I like music that works outside the box, and this band certainly does that. I am trying to like this band, with some success but not as much as I'd like. What works for me is the dark, semi-industrial "noise" nature of the music. What does not always work is the length and repetitive nature of some of the songs. Michael Gira's minimalist approach on many of these songs, including the title track just feels like music going nowhere slowly and outlasting my interest level by several minutes, making some of it feel like filler. I also admit--and this is my fault, not Gira's--that the religious imagery is confusing. Is he engaging in Christian proselytizing? Just commenting on religion from the sidelines? I feel like there is either no real point to this imagery, or perhaps there is a point which is just too obscure to 'get'. Also, Gira's reputation for being a jerk doesn't help me like his music any more. He is well-known for berating his live audience, even stomping on people's fingers if they dare put their hands on the edge of the stage. It's hard to like an artist who seems to hate his own audience. So this disc hasn't succeeded in making me a fan, but I will take some of the responsibility for that. The bottom line is that this isn't a disc I will be listening to or enjoying as much as I had hoped to.

Too much to say. A mental dissection of a biblical nature. I don't think you can handle it. The darkest night and the fowlest of creatures lurking outside your tent that is slowly disintegrating in the acid rain. Droning complexity of emotions and pain in its purest audible form. An impeccable depiction of life in its heavily charred straight-jacket ripped and restitched innumerous times as frontman Michael Gira pushes the trite of existence to the wall, breaks through it and continues on to suck up the essence of the human eye-perceived universe just to hack it up and spit it out along with the sins and blood of a tortured youth before stomping it into the dirt with a steel toed boot then carrying on chronically kicking the shit out of it and grinning as he does. "A Piece of the Sky" may be one of the greatest songs ever written. Sinister genius. Blood lust. Compromising pain. Unintelligible sentiment. A brief portrayal of Hell. Not for the faint of heart, simple-minded, or content.

So, the SWANS epic new monster of an album 'the Seer' both met and exceeded expectations. Definitely a top pick of 2012. I was even silly enough to buy both the 2CD and 3LP versions. No illegal downloading of the album for me!HOWEVER, what I will give a negative review is their 'automated advertising recommendation generator' program.Week after week I have been hit with recommendations of albums which are allegedly like 'the Seer', but are actually not even in the same genre, let alone even close in an approximation of sound and attitude of the SWANS! Case in point: electronic dance music of the Presets new album 'Pasifica' was recommended as being like the SWANS new album?! I scoff and chuckle with amused indignation with such a ridiculous suggestion...So Amazon, either write a better program or get a 'human' who has a clue to check before automated recommendation emails are sent out.Thank you.Disgruntled customer

The fact that this album is two hours long and that I wasn't ready for it to be over should tell you everything you need to know.Just by chance, the morning after I bought this album I found myself working alone in a windswept, snow covered field. I popped in my head phones and let the Seer wash over me. My mind is officially blown. The perfect album in a perfect setting to hear it for the first time.Next time I experience it, I plan on doing so in a darkened room with a candle or two, a pair of large speakers, and a few pints of high gravity India Pale Ale. I can't wait.PS. I'd never even heard of Swans until I caught a portion of the song "Mother of the World" on NPR a couple days ago. Now I'm a fan.

Update January 2022. All the below of my original review does apply still but I think over time the sheen of the delicious darkness that permeates this album becomes a tricky one. It's so dark in the centre and repetitive that unlike something like the amazingly jazzy light er chaos of the 2nd half of Tago Mago by Can, it grinds the listener down a wee bit. With that in mind I think it's not quite the 5 stars I had thought. But that's music for you. It remains as it ever was whilst the listeners mood and needs can change. I think there are some better Swans albums in terms of song construction.Original 5 star review 2021 That a shock. I love very experimental Faust like music and Swans have recently skirted the edge of my conscious music searches and odd track listens -for a good reason I now see.The Seer is full of fantastic sequences ....their style of presentation on this record is amazing....each time you think you are getting lost, a new refreshing twist turns up and grabs you. Hard.Their compositions feel like they have been mulled over, meditated to, refined and regurgitated ...the epic tracks become soundscape symphonies with raw punk like power. I am sooooo into this.So if you like God Speed You Black Emperor, Faust, Velvet Underground, the lyrical surrealism of Tom Waites, similarly the chanting humour of Sparks, also Talking Heads and anything Krautrock related ....get this.Also the album cover....the derrière....genius. Swans have a new fan. I've already got two more albums on the way.Yes it's long. But brilliant brilliant brilliant long!

This double disc monolith of an album is my favourite of swans 2010s releases. A hybrid sound of post rock, haunting soundscapes and guitar dissonant fury. Albums like this add originality to the rock music canon and is a great example of how pushing boundaries with music will gain you a whole new fanbase like swans successfully did.Play through good headphones it might blow your speakers.

If you know Swans then you know they deal with huge stabs of raw sound and hypnotic rythmic percussion. This album hits you full on with incredibly powerful waves of crunching guitar spikes, thunderous bells, repeated mantras spewed out by Gira and crushing drums. It is the sound of ancient rites, mystic forests and horrific sacrifices. Basically The Ritual or Antlers played out in music.

This is the album we played our baby when he was still in the womb on repeat. When it got to 'mother of the world', lil' junior had such a blast he nearly dun killed Karen. Lil' junior grew up to be a great kid.

It's hard not to sound pretentious when reviewing the album. It's not the sort of album you can just put on. You have to be in the mood and be prepared tom listen to the whole LP. It's dark and foreboding and tells a story. What's interesting is the way the music communicates and develops on the lyrics (see what I mean). If you have ever heard Faust you are near to understanding what it sounds like but it's a lot more structured. If you get a chance to see this live then go, it was one of the most intense concerts I have ever been too.