SWANS "The Seer"

(Young God) I know this album has been receiveing raves for months and my apologies for getting to it so slowly, but I blame the packaging. For some reason my copy of this 2 disc set came with disc 2 packaged on top when you open the jewel case, and it opens with a regular sounding song, a pretty piece of almost-Americana, which sounded good, but I just wasn't up to figuring out how it fit in with the SWANS thang, and I put it aside for months, rather than wrangle witht Gira-gone-No Depression. So anyhow, when I stopped being a coward I quickly heard that even the rest of disc 2 disputes this, with it, and most of the album, sounding hypnotic, dangerous, and genuinely weird (with purpose). One track opens with what sounds like two minutes of bacon frying. And another just sounds like a haunting, slow air raid siren. And when I finally ended with what I should have started with, disc one declares everything to come with conviction by opening with a minimalist unit of mayhem that sounds like the Who portraying Orc marauders. Much of the album is eerie instrumental cacophony, with one of the only vocal tracks sounding like a serial killer serenading a bound victim before dismemberment. SWAN ON!