Review Summary: A disappointing effort from a band.
Listen to a song, give it your attention, pick out its highs and lows. That is one way to look at music. Be a critic , after all, you are the most important thing in the world and you know what's best for music. Listen to what the artist has done correctly and where he has gone wrong. Another way to look at music is just to listen to it for what it is. Don't complicate it. You either just like what you hear, or you don't, but only you can convey your feelings yourself. People can tell you how to feel and perhaps influence you but in the end, it is you who makes the decision. If people don't like what you say then they can either take it offensively or rise above it.
I like all types of music because I try to see the good in everything I listen to. If vocals are terrible, I can drown them out if the song holds a good beat. Take Primus for example, the vocals and guitar playing is pretty mundane, but the drum work and bass playing keeps the songs interesting. My favourite kind of music is the kind that you just can't predict. Stuff that really catches you off guard.
This record unfortunately didn't deliver for me at all. The songs are long and don't seem to take any direction at all. Pretty much every song stays in the same key the whole way through, and although this may work with some songs other groups have done, Swans can't pull it off and it gets really tedious really fast. Think of the same guitar riff being played for 20 minutes, and a crap riff at that. Torture music basically. Some unorthodox instruments are used on the record so I will give a little bit of leverage for that.
The voice on the lead singer is extremely bland and sounds like a bad imitation of many crooners I've heard before. Either people have been too polite to this guy and lied to him about his voice being a work of art, or this guy just doesn't care, which is fair enough in love and war, but mate, lets be honest, your voice sounds like a drunken tramp coo-ing for shrapnel.
This record, is one of few albums (and I'm talking like 1 or 2 here) I've listened to and failed to find anything I've enjoyed. It is borderline cack. Needlessly long boring songs with no creativity or originality to them. Originally this paragraph was very rude and impolite towards people who like this album. I have now taken the liberty to edit it, and will now say the following: If you like this album then I would like to meet up with you for a nice cup of tea and a jam scone or two. We will have a civilised chat about our differences regarding this record. Just remember to bring your weapon of choice in case things get uncivilised. I've got my weapon. It's a cup of tea.
