ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Friday, December 13, 2024

Full Length Review: Swans "Soundtracks for the Blind" (Young God Records) by Daniel Ryan

Band: Swans
Location: Manhattan, New York
Country: USA
Genre: Alt rock, experimental rock
Format: Digital, LP (set of four), CD (set of three)
Label: Young God Records
Release date: July 25, 2014
I've been a follower of Swans since I was 14 years old and have never grown tired of them. Being 36 now and listening to what was supposed to be to be their last album put out ten years ago they would ever put out again feels like a revelation to me. The masterpieces found here glow like gold and offer the listener a in the moment glimpse into the lives of Michael Gira and Jarboe in many of the tracks on this 26 track album. They go from dark far away instruments fading out and in to the acoustic elements found on this double CD as well. You can truly sense and appreciate how all this work done song for song was not easy. Very gentle some and others not so much. It’s been the way of Swans for some long time now. Bringing in the violent with absolutely beautiful mixing it all up in each song that stands alone from each other. This album I can recommend to fans of Godflesh, Slab! and Jesu. My favorite track I would have to say is Empathy. As overwhelming it can get you can get lost in an album like this for a very long time. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. Each song has something to explore and to explain to the listener or audience that witnesses the music portrayed by Swans. I only dream of what it would be like to capture each moment as they done on this album. For the listener of this album, hold on tight because you are in for a bumpy ride. –Daniel Ryan

Track list:
1. Red Velvet Corridor
2. I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull
3. Helpless Child
4. Live Through Me
5. Yum-Yab Killers
6. The Beautiful Days
7. Volcano
8. Mellothumb
9. All Lined Up
10. Surrogate
11. How They Suffer
12. Animus
13. Red Velvet Wound
14. The Sound
15. Her Mouth Is Filled With Honey
16. Blood Section
17. Hypogirl
18. Minus Something
19. Empathy
20. I Love You This Much
21. YRP
22. Fan's Lament
23. Secret Friends
24. The Final Sacrifice
25. YRP 2
26. Surrogate Drone

No comments:

Post a Comment