If you’re at all familiar with the storied history of Swans, you’ll understand why a new album is a big deal for fans, and rightly so. Quickly after coming into existence in the early 80’s, Swans began a slow and steady churn of albums which took the concepts of disintegration and death to their extremes and created vicious records of seemingly endless darkness. These were not what you would’ve called conventionally “good” albums. But they were endlessly fascinating and a definite benchmark in what then would have been labeled doom metal. This was music made for cynics and the hoarding mobs of murderers and societal outcasts and miscreants. But on through the 80’s and 90’s, their sound refined and became slightly more melodic and, though never veering far from that original attitude of nothingness and decay, allowed texture and form to replace wanton gratuity. But Gira’s vocals were never anything less than scathingly ferocious. And it seemed that he was growing weary of what he perceived as the typical Swans aesthetic and so, in 1997, Gira disbanded Swans and began again as Angels Of Light. Thirteen years have passed since that time and Angels of Light have released records to great acclaim, and it seemed Michael Gira was happy in this stage of his career. So it comes as a wonderful surprise that he would gather the band together again and record a new lp’s worth of material, after having put Swans to rest. My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky is Gira’s attempt to place the Swans legacy alongside his current musical lineage, and by trying to reconcile the two, he has released one of the strongest Swans album to date. The martial beats and Grand Guignol church bells of “No Words/No Thoughts” that open the album allow a brief glimpse into the calm before the storm of the album. Quickly following these soft bell drones though, the songs’ intensity ignites and the fervor never lets up until we hear the final tones of closer “Little Mouth”. Michael Gira, despite all sensible notions, has reinvigorated Swans and brought to bear the full weight of his abilities, which is something that we haven’t seen in quite some time. Whether this is a one-off record for his die-hard fans or a return to active duty, you can be sure that Swans are back and they’re ready to fuck things up all over again.
Tracklisting:
01. No Words/No Thoughts (listen to the mp3 below)
02. Reeling the Liars In
03. Jim
04. My Birth
05. You Fucking People Make Me Sick
06. Inside Madeline
07. Eden Prison
08. Little Mouth
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