Swans - The Seer
Swans are one of my absolute favorite bands. They are, in my mind, the heaviest band of all time - the mood, the sound, the aesthetics, Gira's gut wrenching lyrics and vocals. It is beautiful music to wallow in, especially when you are hurting, when you feel weak or humiliated, when you're being punished and are ready to accept it.
I saw Swans in NYC about two years ago when they had just reformed and were touring on My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky. As someone who didn't get to see their initial existense, it was a dream come true.
While I still prefer the older material (I'm particularly fond of the White Light from the Mouth of Infinity / Love of Life era), the records since their reformation are excellent and are more compelling than most of the drivel that has come out in the last few years. The Seer is my favorite of the newer records. It isn't an album to walk into lightly. It takes repeated listens and certainly isn't a "Hey man, put on track four" kind of album. It needs to be listened to in long strides in order to really feel its impact. Sit with The Seer and let it punch you in the stomach.
Column Of Heaven - Mission From God
The only current record about a serial killer that matters. Andy (Andrew Nolan) is one of my favorite dudes making records right now, and one of the only current bands that can truly claim the title of (orthodox) power violence.
I was a fan of The Endless Blockade and had put out a Joshua Norton Cabal cassette on my label Swim Harder Cassettes a few years ago. When Andy started mentioning his new band, my buddy Ryan (who runs the Anthems of The Undesirable distro) and I were interested to see what was next. We recieved some copies of the "Ecstatically Embracing..." demo and enjoyed it, but when Andy sent us copies of the Mission From God cassette, we were blown the fuck away. This is my favorite record that he's done thus far, and I hope things only continue to get better.
Neurosis - Honor Found In Decay
Another of my favorite bands. I got to see them at Maryland Death Fest a year-and-a-half ago. Honor Found In Decay is the newest album, and while Times Of Grace will forever be their quintessential Albini era record for me, this one could easily compete for a 2nd or 3rd place spot of that era.
Neurosis doesn't quite have that gnarly anger-driven feeling that you pick up on during records like Souls At Zero, Enemy Of The Sun, and Through Silver In Blood anymore. They've traded that in for a sullen maturity that, while very different, I still enjoy very much.
Unlike some of their peers who are on that constant, minimum wage, "record every two years and tour your dick off 200 days a year" schedule, Neurosis have managed to age as a band very gracefully, putting out a record every five or so years and playing extremely sporadic live shows. If you get the chance to see Neurosis, do it. You might not get another.
It's no secret that we here at Halifax Collect have a tender soft-spot for Moutheater, Andrew Aircraft's (vocals(guitar) main band. One need not look further than all the Moutheater stories on this blog (check out this latest one, scroll down and view all the "related stories") already. More to come! Not only do we assert that Moutheater is an immensely talented, relevant and good band, we also believe they are criminally underrated and unlucky (how about that Ornament scandal? Read about it here). Aside from his chief priority, Mr. Aircraft also runs a fine blog, where one can keep up with all his music related endeavours and then some. Debris Amour is his industrial / power electronic project.
- Birkir Fjalar
Photo by Tom Barbee
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