Customer Reviews

Great Annihilator

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The Swans changed and the rest is history.

This CD came out in 1995 at the height of the alternative rock craze. However, this does not sound like any alternative band. You cannot even call this Goth. This is just something of its own. The Swans are one of the most unique musical entities of all time. They created "dark" music, yes, but it was not dark for dark's sake. The music of The Swans is ethereal - it enwraps you in an atmosphere. The band is never self-indulgent. The lyrics are never self-serving and they do not appeal to an angsty teenage fanbase. In reality, the music is quite sophisticated and intellectual.

I have never heard of any band that sounded like The Swans. They are definitely one of the most overlooked bands of all time, which is a pity. They continued to evolve after this record until their death in 1997. They always kept things fresh and interesting, which is what every great band does. They never played it safe for commercial success, even during this era when they were just a step away from it. And while their contemporaries made it huge, The Swans stayed in obscurity and continued to make amazing experimental music with no regard whatsoever to the demands of their audience.

In that case, The Great Annihilator is just a snapshot of The Swans during one single era in their existence. This is one of the last records the band put out and it is also one of their best. This music is beautiful and melancholic without sounding too melodramatic and cheesy. It is dark and somber without sounding self-indulgent and pretentious. It is transcendental.

It takes you on a journey, like all great music does, to a different place.

I do not understand.

I own over 1000 CD's, not to mention hundreds of tapes and records -- plenty of it from dark musical genres -- and for some reason, I had never heard this album, this band, nor did I have any idea what incredible music I was missing. This album is unbelievable. The mix of deep, brooding male vocals and biting female vocals over minimalistic drums and bass guitar, topped off with a wash of atmospheric guitar -- this is where Joy Division left off, and in fact was never able to achieve. Sisters of Mercy and Christian Death can only retrospectively wish that their music was this intelligent, creative, and heart-piercing.

Besides being musical euphoria, the songs on this album are simplistically genius! I wonder if the Swans have another album this good.

As celebrated (and admirable) as 1987's 'Children of God' was, this may be the only studio album the Swans ever produced that can truly be labelled as a masterpiece. Eclectic yet consistently marvelous, this long album demands attentive listening of every of its 16 tracks. This album synthetises all the musical experiments Swans came across during their long career, yet presents them in an accesible manner that any intelligent fan of modern rock would love. The two lead singers are brilliant and unique, and M.Gira's lyrics are so consistently dark and gloomy they reach a whole new level of tragic beauty. As for the music, I could try to describe individual tracks (the brilliantly produced, catchy industrial rock of 'I am the sun', the perfect alt-rock of 'Celebrity lifestyle' and 'MotherFather', the dreamlike atmosphere created in 'My buried child' by Martin Atkins' tribal drumming and Jarboe's walkyrian war chants, the witty acid-jazz groove of 'Telepathy', the unbearable sadness of 'Blood promise' and 'killing for company'...) but even that is pointless. Every song is perfect in its own way. And the performances, particularly Bill Rieflin's drumming, are fantastic. All in all, a perfect album recommended for anyone. It is a tragedy this masterpiece is out of print while so many crap bands flourish...

This album so kicks @$$ that it takes away words; then you have to go about seeking them to write a review. I'll tell you one thing: Jarboe has never sounded better, with sweet/scary and melodic melancholy all the way. Gira's achieved the perfect sound if his intent was to return to a more rock sound; his laconic voice is simply carried instead of put forth this time, carried by the brilliantly effective yet simple(?) effects of the rhythms and studio stuff. It therefore sounds even more bleak, like he's not about to "rise up" to the demands of "rock music" just because its energy is there to be harnessed by him. It's like the great sound/feel of WHITE LIGHT, etc. (see VARIOUS FAILURES) combined with the COG-type thrust. The disparate layers of chill are each separated, more noticed. Don't get me wrong: These songs aren't as poignant as, say, "Miracle of Love" etc., but there's more here to enjoy in them. The drummer really cares too. Also, there's kind of a heavy bass sound here, or maybe just a pervadingly ominous ambience. Anyway, this is a professional rock band, make no mistake. It truly is a pleasure when everything works. On SOUNDTRACKS FOR THE BLIND they went more for effects and loops, etc., less straight-song vocals my Gira, but it also worked, the sounds often being scarier than on this album. For all Swans did best, they've not been outdone, not even by the quality of what Angels of Light does best now. In fact, I'd hate them to spoil anything, but maybe Gira & Co. might want to consider returning in a few years if they have anything this strong and that they think really belongs to Swans.

If you are looking at the Swans page, I'm not going to bother running through the importance of this band. This is their masterwork. There is no other album that sounds like this, and very few that are as good. Zoned-out electric and accoustic guitars interplay over the otherworldly voices of Jarboe and Michael Gira (who I personally prefer), with the militaristic drumming of Bill Reiflin (ex- Ministry) providing a stark counterpoint. If you go back chronologically, things get mellower, and then harsher (personally not a fan of their really early stuff). If you go forward, it gets weirder. Not only is this the best start-point for new fans, but it is one of the few cds I own that I don't think I've ever gone a month without listening to. Songwriting, musicianship (not show-offy), lyrics, and production are at an all-time high water mark on this, for any band. I honestly can't express enough how much this deserves a place in any serious music fan's collection. Quite possibly my favorite album ever recorded, this is a masterpiece. There is a mood to this album that only exists here. I should probably warm you that it's fairly depressing, but it crushes anything in the "gothic" veign, with the possible exception of vintage Nick Cave. Absolutely masterful.

This 1994 album is introduced by IN, a soaring instrumental with a hint of wordless background vocals joined by spooky spacey sounds about halfway through and then fading over & under the laughter of a toddler. The pounding I Am The Sun with its tempo shifts follows, stuttering segments & speedier passages alternating to conclude in an exit of frantic drumming.

The dark humor - If humor it is - of She Lives! has Gira celebrating madness over a mid-tempo mix of piano and anxious guitar. The mid-tempo rock song Celebrity Lifestyle was released as a single; it is atypical of Swans in sound and word but in theme corresponds with the Soundtracks for the Blind track Volcano with its cheeky comments on a 90s rock starlet.

The first of Jarboe's three highly distinctive vocal performances on this album is the harsh Mother/Father where she howls & roars at full throat over a wall of massed guitars in a delivery with the vocal and thematic intensity of Black Eyed Dog on Ten Songs for Another World. Relief arrives with Gira's gentle Blood Promise, a ballad that sounds like Leonard Cohen on sedatives. Trance is the third in this sequence of styles as the hypnotic Mind Body Light Sound enchants with its sweeping rhythms, mesmerizing melody and spellbinding alternation between male & female vocals.

Jarboe's second haunting contribution is My Buried Child, the most mournful and simultaneously eerie track where her now husky voice intones the poetic lyrics in an urgent, uptempo chant. The song echoes the sinister imagery of Blood on your Hands, now available on the Children of God/World of Skin album. From earthen grave to heavenly heights in the lilting lullaby Warm, her swirling "la la la" vocals supported by spiraling guitar patterns soar to a crescendo before serenely subsiding. Other versions of Mother/Father and My Buried Child are available on A Mystery of Faith.

This elegant, understated interpretation of Mother's Milk resembles the torch songs of World of Skin, unrecognizable as the same song compared to the terrifying version on the live album Omniscience. That one that sounds like the climax of a wild occult ritual has more in common with this album's majestic title track although The Great Annihilator has a slower tempo than Mother's Milk Live where Jarboe's performance equals that on Mother/Father and Black Eyed Dog. TGA's dark cadences come in wave after wave of reverberating bass, shimmering keyboards, haunting harmonies and doom-laden drones resonating between Gira's deep vocals and the dark voices of the many guitars.

Other tracks with Gira on lead vocal include Alcohol the Seed, Killing for Company, Where Does a Body End? which has a companion song in Where Does Your Body Begin on his solo album Drainland and Telepathy which ends in a blood-curdling scream. The album originally concluded with OUT, where Jarboe's subdued wordless vocal is backed by the voice of Larry Seven, her collaborator on the Beautiful People Ltd. album. The 2002 reissue is enhanced by a live version of I Am the Sun as the 17th track.

The Great Annihilator is a masterpiece of atmospherics, harmonies, melodies, moods and stylistic variety. In my opinion it is also one of the most accessible albums in the Swans catalogue, along with the gently tuneful The Burning World. Without obvious compromise, the work seems to avoid those musical & emotional extremes that freak out the average rock lover. At the same time it offers many memorable songs in styles that ought to appeal to fans of artists such as Nick Cave, Velvet Underground, early period Siouxsie & the Banshees, John Cale, Leonard Cohen, Richard Thompson and the like.

This is unlike anything in SWANS entire catalog and by far the most accessible and infectious. One listen and you will be addicted to this strange new sound. There isn't really anything to say about Anihilator that hasn't already been said in these reviews. I'll just add this: a largely unknown alternative rock treasure from a pioneering band whose influence can be felt across many genres of contemporary music. See my SWANS listmania for more details. Highest accolades for The Great Anihilator, it never gets old and it never ceases to amaze me.

This is one of the best albums I have ever heard. Swans have the perfect approach towards music. The beauty is in this album's simplicity. Listening to the first ten seconds of every track will not give you an accurate perception of this album. There are few chord changes going on. The dynamics of this album are achieved by adding and subtracting vocals and instruments in order to create an atmospheric droan that seems to start in your stomach and keeps your head spinning until it's done playing. M.Gira's vocals are entrancing. The richness of his voice is matched by confused, paranoid lyrics. If you love "dark music" but are tired of the bands that are emmerging recently who have lyrics that sound like they came out of a "how to write a goth song" instruction manual, this album will be refreshing. You will never hear another band that sounds like this. My favorites on this album are "I am the Sun", "Mother/Father", "Mind/Body/Light/Sound" and "Killing for Company".

This is honestly some of the trippiest, most erotic music I've heard in my life. The Swans draw on a whole host of emotions throughout this album. I've danced to this music, dreamed to it, made love to it, driven across the country with it, and even meditated to it. Songs range from dark and gothic (Celebrity Lifestyle) to bright and a bit like bellydancing music (In) to Indian-influenced rock (I Am the Sun) to the brooding bass-driven march-like dance (Telepathy).

If you like pop music, hip-hop, or country, stay away from this album. It's too complex for your tastes and you'll probably just think it's weird. If experimental, trippy, and especially eastern influenced music is your forte, get this. You'll be better off for it.

The Great Annihilator is an almost awkward collection of music. Positioned one step away from the end of the Swans' career, and coming at the tail end of quite possibly the most radical reinvention ever seen in popular music. The tunes here aren't quite the sunny, psychotic ballads of White Light, nor are they the freeform noise collages that would make up their final effort. The Great Annihilator is smack dab in the middle of the two, featuring basic song structures, driving rhythms, ambient synths and samples (with some interesting exploratory touches), and the vocal syzygy of Jarboe and Gira at its most harmonious. With this record, which would have been the signal that the formula was getting old for any other band, the Swans accomplished what seemed for them to be far out of reach, they made an accessable album.

It's nothing set to top the charts for sure, with songs like Telepathy and She Lives lyrically calling to mind Gira's moonlighting stint as a serial killer while writing The Consumer. But the ever-present emotional lead weights that came piled on much of the band's earlier material seem to have been left out of this one. Sure it's dark and brooding, but the airy, shimmering synthesizer and guitar work coupled with lively tempos set it a world apart from nearly everything else they've done. Still, this is unmistakably the Swans. Touchstones like warped spirituality, self-contained tragedy, and blunt repetition are all here, albeit in prettier, poppier packages than ever. So if you're curious, but don't feel like diving into the deep end of this band, this is for you.

Oh and be certain to buy this from Young God Records directly to get it autographed by MG for free.