Swans: The Great Annihilator (2LP) [YOUNG GOD]

Why you'll love it

This remastered 2LP set put The Great Annihilator back on vinyl for the first time in decades, and its download card adds Drainland, the Michael Gira solo album made alongside it. It's the most melodic, cleanly produced record of Swans' first era.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Remastered
• Gatefold jacket
• Download card included
• Includes download of Drainland

About the album

Swans have a reputation for volume that could strip paint, so The Great Annihilator can come as a surprise: it's tuneful. Michael Gira put it out on his own Young God label in January 1995, and called it a companion to his solo album Drainland, recorded at the same time.

An instrumental of children's laughter and chanting opens the door, then "I Am The Sun" sets Gira and Jarboe trading vocals over a manic drive with sudden drops into quiet. "Celebrity Lifestyle" is what Louder Sound's Dom Lawson called a "weirdly catchy no-wave hoedown," "Mother/Father" pounds, and "Where Does A Body End?" shares its words with a Drainland song, stitching the two records together.

Pitchfork's reviewer heard Gira's vocal as a self-consciously sinister take on Johnny Cash, which is the sort of review you'd frame. Two albums for the price of one is not a deal Swans usually offer, so we'd take it.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Young God Records (cat# YG59), a reissue of the 1995 album.