Best Songs from Swans' Holy Money
Holy Money is the fourth studio album by American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in March 1986, through record label K.422. The album was recorded in the same sessions as " Time Is Money (Bastard), A Screw and Greed.
The backing vocals from Jarboe sound a lot like a gospel choir, making the slow moaning of the lead vocals even more harrowing. The tribal sound of the drumming near the end is also extremely cool and eerie.
This garbage
This song is really unsettling, with the vocals in the front of the mix simply uttering a variety of offputting phrases, such as "I'm worthless". I really love how once again, the isolation of the instruments translates so well into giving the listener a feeling of isolation as well, tying in with the whole general feel of the album.
I can't tell what the differences between this and the first version of the song are, but I do love this song nonetheless, still with that amazingly heavy industrial beat and great vocal line, having that angry tone to it reminiscient of Filth.
I really like the beat that the song has, with slow, eerie chanting throughout over a really interesting beat. The song, while still being unquestionably nasty and heavy, is much more palatable compared to the majority of the album.
I'm nowhere near as keen on this as the first version of the song, as I really loved the lack of percussion in that, as it gave some seriously impressive moments of atmosphere. That said, Michael Gira singing "I cut off my right hand and stand in your shadow" still sounds just as haunting as ever.
The long, droning screeches of the guitar and various noises throughout each sustained note build a tense atmosphere. I find it to be one of the less interesting pieces here, but nonetheless an incredible one.
The vocals are really offputting, being quite weak and fragile sounding, with the only instrumentation taking place being isolated piano chords, producing an extremely creepy, unpleasant tone.