Early Swans is literally heavy music like metal or hardcore but for people who are too pussy, too pretentious, or too ADHD to enjoy those other heavy genres. That's why every track just repeats almost the same damn thing with no variation to water heavy music down for plebs.
Children Of God is Industrial for babies who are too scared to get into the much wilder and often harsher experiences of masters like Throbbing Gristle or Einstürzende Neubauten.
Neo-folk era Swans is for people who got too intimidated by the complexities of the arrangements of folk geniuses like Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and now Joanna Newsom so instead these people listen to the most repetitive folk songs on the planet. Shit, at least the really old as shit folk songs were not this long even if just as repetitive.
Soundtracks For The Blind is touted as their masterpiece, but it's really just Swans' gimmick record. On the surface it will impress anyone not experienced with a variety of music, because it sure does bring some variety, but a closer look will show just how awful it is. Take a track like Helpless Child for example. In a world where we have bands like Talk Talk and Godspeed You! Black Emperor who make these long dirges with constant changes, we have this track that makes very little changes if at all until later into the song when giant drones start to take over. Or what about Volcano, which, even though it's a dancey electronic track, has none of the percussive intricacy outside the main percussion heard in the beginning to make the track groove better like the best house/techno.
But perhaps the worst is their latest output, which does what potential GOAT krautrock contender band Amon Düül II did on their legendary improvisation tracks, yet do it with a similar approach every. Single. Track. Shit, they don't even have actual cool ass riffs to bookend the builds like ADII either, just bland builds.
Tyler Rivera
wowzers what a shittly presented opinion
Daniel Bailey
So who do you enjoy?
Zachary Wright
Wow, working hard for those (You)s, aren'tcha?
Matthew Ramirez
OP already named artists who do what Swans try to do much better than Swans can.
Ryder Cox
thanks for speaking the truth op. i luv u 4 that
Anthony Kelly
Swans don’t try to do what Talk Talk and GY!BE do you fucking idiot
Joshua Martin
never gave them much of a shot but what I've heard just sounded like a neurosis ripoff
Justin Adams
>Swans doesn't pull dynamics based shit like GYBE >Swans doesn't try to bring other musicians to have cooler instrumentation like Talk Talk with their more recent albums Are you fucking deaf or too blind to read those liner notes?
Jackson Harris
Not him, but Swans literally came before both Talk Talk and GY!BE. If anything, those bands were inspired by Swans the most!
Jackson Powell
>they both do these two same things, therefore they’re attempting to do entirely the same thing Just trying to figure out if you’re pretending to be retarded or just legitimately aren’t using your brain before you post
Easton Cook
>thinks early Swans is at all close to those guys Y'all needa actually step out of your basement so you can exercise then get our hearing better or something. Swans may have come before them, but the context of the OP obviously mentions them in one far away from what Swans used to be earlier in their career.
Nathan Harris
jesus christ have we really gotten to the point that people can't tell obvious pasta
Andrew Diaz
>Googles it Shit, you right.
Brandon Brown
>m-muh copypasta Sounds like you guys really can't prove OP wrong.
Ayden Diaz
There is no record truly as evil as soundtracks for the blind.
Carter Martinez
gy!be sucks
talentless hacks playing 3 chords over the course of 30min because they are too unskilled to play properly
Alexander Barnes
>doesn't know pic exists >doesn't know that pedo scorpion album exists
Joshua Sanchez
It literally is a copypasta. Regardless of whether you agree with it or not, it's obvious OP made the post to piss of Swans fans and not to start an actual discussion.
Brody Nguyen
That still doesn't mean that what he said isn't actually wrong. Swans is watered down garbage either way.
Eli Clark
Swans is awful GY!BE is mediocre Talk talk is pretty good
Noah Ward
Helpless Child is more a ripoff of Codeine than anything.
Swans are a terrible band but some of your points of comparison are off.
Ryan Carter
God! That "Swans" album is so bad! I dont know how anybody can think its good. Its just a guy vomiting/shouting into a microphone and loud noise instruments all cacophonous. How anyone thinks that's music is beyon me. And no, this isint a copypasta or sarcasm, its my true belief. I think the only rason it's popular is because theneedledrop reviewed it and gave it a hiscore. seriously, you only think you like it but if you actually just put on your headphones it's trash tier music.