Swans have had quite the career since forming in New York City in 1982 and they remain one of the few bands that rose out of the No Wave movement that is still in existence.  Throughout their tenure the only constant, for the most part, has been Michael Gira and his combination of post-punk, industrial and experimental elements has never been compromised or changed to fit a certain time period’s tastes.  Regardless of what they’re up to at any given moment it’s always a good bet that a Swans record will fuck with your head in a big way.  The Seer is Gira’s second LP since reforming the band in 2010 and as usual the outlook is bleak.  Coming in around two hours in length it’s a behemoth, and were it not for the slick songwriting skill that’s on display it would be a lot to get through.

The Seer makes good use of many drone elements, and the duration of some of the songs, the title track in particular, bears this out.  This glut of ideas isn’t a surprise from a project that has roots some three decades old, and Gira said of this record that it took ’30 years to make.  It’s the culmination of every previous Swans album as well as any other music I’ve ever made’.  That’s a bold statement and most musicians would be hard pressed to condense so much work into a single coherent album, but The Seer proves that it is possible.  The dark forces start pulsing on opening track ‘Lunacy’ and they don’t stop until all 23-minutes of ‘The Apostate’ have finished.

As has always been typical of Swans there is never a shortage of unique instrumentation, and here you’ll be treated to everything from bells to accordion.  The acoustic nature of much of the album only adds to the menace.  ‘The Seer’ in particular is a 32-minute drone/desert-rock journey that moves in some unsettling directions.  Shorter songs like ’93 Ave. B Blues’ and ‘Song For A Warrior’, which features Karen O, are able to pack the dark psychedelic punch of their longer counterparts while delivering more immediate satisfaction.   

The moments when The Seer is most enjoyable come when Gira & Co. truly let loose, and the shimmering spectral lines of ‘A Piece Of The Sky’ and ‘Lunacy’ are easily memorable and even easier to return to.

A record like this makes it obvious how a band can stick around in some form or another for 30 years.  If this is truly supposed to act like a retrospective then Swans and their 58 year-old leader have a very bright future ahead of them, even if they are making some of the most devastating music around.  Other artists are mining the same dark corners as Michael Gira, but none of them can come close devouring their listeners with such an original sound.  The Seer is quickly one of the most unique statements of 2012.

Grade: A