If albums were supposed to be rated by originality this is a "10". It's like anything I ever heard before. However, I picked this albums strictly for the music and this album blows. It tested my limits of patience when I was listening to it in a car - stuck in traffic. There are noises, people screaming, playing flute, harmonica, violin, whistles, bells, and all types of weird instruments. And there is no order in this madness. Just listen to the title track that goes for 32 minutes. From minute 10 to 32 Gira is basically pounding the same chord on his guitar for 22 minutes to get to the violent drum and guitars climax. And after I survived this track and though "it can't get any worse" next track features 2 minutes of rain falling and some people just yelling for 5 minutes. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but music supposed to be fun to listen to. This album is depressing and whatever you do don't play it with your date around, or it's going to be a short date.… Expand

A 7/10, and this is me being generous. To sit through the full two hours felt like a chore more than an enjoyable music-listening experience. Still, 'Avatar' is a fantastic song, and I'm bound to rate anything with Karen O's vocals highly, so 'Song for a Warrior' earns high marks as well. Overall though, needs more killer, less filler.

Dark and frequently terrifying. One of the few albums I've listened to that manages to be consistently creepy while remaining enjoyably musical even through its most dissonant moments. Experiencing this album is the audio equivalent of wandering through Tulgey Woods in Disney's version of Alice in Wonderland. Bleak and confusing, but populated with colorful twisted creatures that provide a strange sense of relief just as you are about to give into despair.… Expand

The blistering five minute high points don't compensate for the needlessly overlong introductions which encase the real meat of each track. Some bands are meant to do protracted drones and do it well, it seems an ill fit for Swans whose strengths have always been in immediacy and brief interrupts of overwhelming raw power and sheer force. Umagumma on Quaaludes.

You could spend two hours with The Beatles or a symphony or an audio book and deduct some reason from the work. You could also look at concrete or black paint for two hours, or listen to Swans' The Seer, which would leave you with nothing. The latter is an evil deed, and the fruit is bitter. Your choice.

I know everybody will call me a dumbass now, but I just don't get what the art of this album is. Listening to it is an adventure that is really depressing and dismal and it's set up very, very good but after all of it, I really think it's not that good. 'The Seer' is a weird one, full with probably unexplainable lyrics and strange noises coming from somewhere else. You can't take the single songs seriously, because when they're 18 minutes long and mostly instrumental, it's not remarkable. But as a whole work this is just like a strange independent movie. A little bit terrfying, full of metaphers and then comes this little spoken part. I can't really tell if it is a masterpiece because I'm also disappointed with this record, at least sort of. That is supposably by reason that I don't get the meaning. Maybe Swans just want to discombobulate, consternate me. When the two-hour-album finally dies away after the 23 minute closer 'The Apostate' you have to be stunned because of the wickedness (not in a bad way) of this disc. Maybe it's art, maybe it's not but it surely is astonishing work that is food for thought.… Expand

Engrossing collection. Dark , grant and thought provoking. The album tells us a long story whose plot contains all factors that one drama needs to fulfil our dreams.

While some people may criticize it for invoking uncomfortable emotions inside them, or for being unmusical throughout, they haven't even listened through the whole album. Though before getting into my review, I must explain to those what music is ment for, as music is an expression, people don't make music so you can have fun and dance, no they make it to express themselves, or to tell a narrative. Music is an art form, and as art has shown us, not all art is cutesy and pretty, some art is made to invoke feelings of dread, sorrow, and fear, this album is just like that. While songs like Lunacy, The Apostate, and The Seer (Returns) are ment to invoke fear, disgust, and dread through their instrumentation, and lyrical content, A Song For A Warrior (vocals by Karen O) has beauty, but also feels sorrowful, like as if it were a funeral song. The best thing about this album as a whole are the instrumentations, which rely on repetition to catch you off guard when the song suddenly changes, or when a new layer of instrumentation is added, while Gira wouldn't be great for singing on this album, he's great for the mood of this album, he's utterly evil sounding and it's great. Though I want to back to some reviews of this album before this review is done, especially Rockman1976's (gave this album a 3 out of 10): I don't know, maybe it's just me, but music supposed to be fun to listen to. This album is depressing" Music is art, and in art we don't dislike stuff because it's depressing, or not happy and colourful, that's just Though on the other note, this album isn't for everyone, especially those who dislike repetition, highly cryptic lyrics, and some of the scariest songs you'll find, but if you are really open minded, give it a look! 10/10.… Expand

Undoubtedly my favorite album of the year thus far, The Seer is a fantastic work of art. The album oozes atmosphere from every aural pore; it's beautiful, introspective and yet soul-crushingly heavy all at once. Once The Seer gets you in its grip, it will not let you go. The payoff is more than worth the time and effort you have to put in to get into it. Incredible.

Swans' newest album The Seer is a epic record full of dark and ambient tunes that best represent the tone and feel, it makes the listener feel the dynamic sound on the tracks from the haunting acoustics of 'Song for a Warrior" with Karen O to it's dark and epic title track.

If you look hard enough there are some great moments in amongst the self indulgence. For me, while it open and closes strongly, the middle third, essentially the heart of the record, is weak. If your big into your experimental noise you'll probably rant about it but I like a few more tunes/songs on my records.

This is a masterpiece. I ve listened to the album 2 times and i cant wait to play it again and again. Noise is mixed with meditation turning into weird sounds. This is provocative material but suits so much for our times. Cant wait to clean my house listening to this album as the background.

For an album about two hours long, the attention span for maybe an average music listener would not be that long. For The Seer, Swans have the power to make powerful music so long you can't get your mind off it. Especially their 30 minute title track, that was the torture of great music. And 93 Ave. Blues, the noise, the abuse, the ugliness, and the pain, all smashing down on your eardrums.

All I can say, this is not for the fainted hearts. It is also not something you will get to appreciate in just a short while...but it will be epic in years to come...an epic album waiting to be heard...or if you are brave enough...it is something you must hear...if you are for the abuse and ugly...get it!… Expand