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The garish psychotronic madness of Uriel’s Chasm nods to early Swans
The band Swans have two distinct phases. The first is grimy, industrial no-wave that churns and roils Tetsuo-like with dystopic paranoia and twisted sexuality. The second phase—their current one—is patient, unfurling twenty-minute art rock tapestries largely devoid of distorted guitars and far more expansive than the claustrophobia of their early work. Also, when the songs aren’t firing on all cylinders, late Swans can feel a bit like homework—stentorian bandleader Michael Gira isn’t the most dynamic presence on the mic, and the arrangements on their longer tracks often collapse into the hit-everything cacophony of bored band members switching instruments. RAILSLAVEGAMES’ Uriel’s Chasm nods to…