Swans - The Great Annihilator (Album Review)

 

Swans - The Great Annihilator

(1995)

My copy: 2017 remastered reissue by Young God Records.

Early 90s Swans releases often divide up their audience. Some enjoy the addition of more melody, wider arrangements of instruments and thicker production while others stand firmly by the aggressive, experimental side of the band’s work. The Great Annihilator is often overlooked entirely, as it came just one year before what is likely their most famous record. While The Great Annihilator does have some wild inconsistencies and flat production, the general goal seems to be to tighten the harshness of early Swans into a more digestible package. 

The brief instrumental “In” showcases how wide and cavernous the sound of the record is: with howling ambiance and warm but flat bass. Bells clatter and voices chant before everything concedes to a sample of a child laughing. “I Am The Sun” is one of the more chaotic tracks, with abrupt announcements broken up by silent rests. Michael Gira’s voice echoes into the silences before his decrees are syncopated by ghostly synths. The drums channel industrial with pounding beats, though the bass is deeply lacking across the board. The choruses are contrasted by either a children’s choir or a heavily pitched up version of Jarboe’s vocals, creating a haunting juxtaposition. 

“She Lives” tackles folk with acoustic guitar and vocals punctuated by harrowing slams. The chords remain anxious and the rhythm lop-sided until a frantic outro section fades in. “Celebrity Lifestyle” is almost entirely focused on syncopation with a rising, tense progression to match Gira’s monotone apocalyptic recitations. Jarboe sets blazing energy with her vocals on “Mother/Father” which is shockingly effective for only droning on one chord. The tone shifts completely with glossy guitars and introspective keys on “Blood Promise,” which is surprisingly gentle (at least instrumentally). 

“Mind/Body/Light/Sound” is far too theatrical and glossy to work as a Swans track: it has an almost embarrassing sass to it that would better suit an arena-rock band. Tribal drums and rattling ritualistic percussion loop through “My Buried Child” where the background vocals are too performative to be inspiring. Jarboe’s whispered spoken word attempts to breathe new life into the track but fails. Things hit an all time low at “Warm,” an obnoxiously cheerful instrumental that sounds like it belongs in an infomercial. After bottoming-out the album glimmers with hope via the combo of hammering drums and discordant guitars on “Alcohol The Seed” where the band verges on metal. 

“Killing For Company” is a strange experiment bordering on mid-tempo new-wave albeit with a sinister undertone like some dark branch of chamber-pop. Jarboe has a ballad via “Mother’s Milk” that stays uncanny with dissonant chords. “Where Does A Body End?” feels like filler leading up to the longer accusatory march of “Telepathy” which again blends repetition with dense layering. The penultimate song is the titular “Great Annihilator” with an almost interesting call and response chorus, but an atmosphere that is too jubilant to match the darkness of the first half of the record. “Out” is a slow and mysterious instrumental to close the record. 

The production is the biggest failure of this record, with the lows and highs feeling utterly lost. Too many of the progressions are washed out in a river of mid frequencies. This combined with some of the downright awful songwriting do not mark a highlight of the Swans catalog. Still, the first five songs are impressive, with a few standouts further down the line. Ultimately The Great Annihilator does not justify its double-album length, and should have cut the brighter, dramatic tracks to focus instead on the odd dark 90s pop sound featured on the earlier songs.