jozlen_

Despite the promise of Fool—a very strong opener which expands the Swans sound with eerie, atmosphere-setting piano—Greed wound up being, for me, a largely forgettable and pointless listen. Not as heavy or crushing as Young God but every bit as sparse, Greed is both easier to listen to and less interesting than its preceding EP.

It really becomes clear with this album that Swans is going to need to change their sound if they hope to retain their edge at all. Their early sound has ... read more

Apparently Cop is the early Swans sweet spot for me, because Young God, through its even slower tempo and more brutal instrumentation, loops back around into being my least favorite early Swans output so far.

Young God takes the early Swans aesthetic and pushes it to its limit. However, where most seem to hear this as an incredibly punishing and cruel listen, to me, it comes across as just unpleasant noise. For me, the complete loss of structure delivered by the incredibly slow trudgery of ... read more

The Swans EP is the only Swans release I've heard so far that I enjoy more the less attention I pay to it. It really is nothing mind blowing, but it is just a fun, simple listen, at least by Swans standards. It isn't exactly challenging, it isn't crushing. It's just an enjoyable EP to throw on for a casual listen and that works just fine for me.

Highlights: Laugh, Sensitive Skin

The Beggar is the hardest Swans album for me to put my feelings into words so far. It didn't blow my mind or give me a incredible experience I'll never forget like The Seer or The Glowing Man. I didn't like it less than I expected as with To Be Kind, nor significantly less like Filth. It didn't surprise me by being way better than expected like Cop. It's just a Swans album that I liked and that I thought was good.

It's track sequencing is good, but not in a way that makes it feel like one ... read more