MARCO'S ALBUMS OF 2012 - #8 (Part 16 of 23)

I hope you are all still alive after the gargantual lunches and dinners traditionally linked to this time of the year... I know I barely survived mine. So let's carry on with our countdown, since we have still eight places to go through and I obviously realized too late I won't be make it in time for the end of the year... oh well.

#8 - SWANS - 'The Seer'.

And in all honesty, I could as well end the mini review here, since this is the ULTIMATE Swans album. It has a little bit of all the various styles, of all the genres, of all the moods and all the themes the band of Michael Gira created over the 30 years of activity: from droning chants to new wave-ish anthems to moments of pure noise and sonic misanthropy, this album is truly the direct heir of that immortal masterpiece called "The Great Annihilator". In a recent interview on Pitchfort, Gira described the album as taking "30 years to make. It's the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I've ever made, been involved in or imagined. But it's unfinished, like the songs themselves. It's one frame in a reel. The frames blur, blend and will eventually fade."

I fully agree.

My only further suggestion, is that you dim the lights and assure you have at least 2 hours of free time to fully enjoy this unending roller coaster of sounds and emotions.

Cathartic.

Suggested listening: "Lunacy", "Mother Of The World", "93 Ave. B Blues", "Avatar".