The Great Annihilator
by Swans

Album
The Great Annihilator by Swans
Year: 1995
Release date: 1995-01-23
Overall rank: 2,506th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 213 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1995 (50th)
Award Top albums of of the 1990s (434th)
Award Best albums of all time (2,506th)

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Swans bestography

The Great Annihilator is ranked 7th best out of 40 albums by Swans on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Swans is To Be Kind which is ranked number 262 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,097.

Swans album bestography « Higher ranked (1,957th)
White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity This album (2,506th)
The Great Annihilator Lower ranked (2,630th) »
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(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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The Great Annihilator track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
In
Average Rating: 80 (45 votes)Comments: View 0
2.
I Am The Sun
Average Rating: 84 (54 votes)Comments: View 2
3.
She Lives!
Average Rating: 82 (47 votes)Comments: View 0
4.
Celebrity Lifestyle
Average Rating: 83 (50 votes)Comments: View 1
5.
Mother/Father
Average Rating: 83 (45 votes)Comments: View 0
6.
Blood Promise
Average Rating: 82 (45 votes)Comments: View 0
7.
Mind / Body / Light / Sound
Average Rating: 83 (48 votes)Comments: View 1
8.
My Buried Child
Average Rating: 79 (43 votes)Comments: View 0
9.
Warm
Average Rating: 80 (43 votes)Comments: View 0
10.
Alcohol The Seed
Average Rating: 79 (44 votes)Comments: View 1
11.
Killing For Company
Average Rating: 84 (52 votes)Comments: View 0
12.
Mother's Milk
Average Rating: 81 (45 votes)Comments: View 0
13.
Where Does A Body End?
Average Rating: 80 (43 votes)Comments: View 0
14.
Telepathy
Average Rating: 80 (42 votes)Comments: View 0
15.
The Great Annihilator
Average Rating: 84 (46 votes)Comments: View 0
16.
Out
Average Rating: 79 (41 votes)Comments: View 0

The Great Annihilator rankings

The Great Annihilator rankings summary
Overall rank: 2,506th | 1990s rank: 434th | 1995 rank: 50th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)

The Great Annihilator collection

The Great Annihilator ratings

Average Rating: 
79/100 (from 213 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 213 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
65/100
 !		08/13/2026 19:02 Rhyner  Ratings distribution  1,73759/100
 
40/100
 !		07/07/2026 20:46 DommeDamian  Ratings distribution  7,80948/100
 
90/100
 !		06/28/2026 03:44 stangetzaway  Ratings distribution  2,32983/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.2/100, a mean average of 78.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.


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The Great Annihilator favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 24 members

Pepeov
Mafedere
MaxStorm98
NeonOctifish
MichaelAngelo
Xxnu99etxX
djnizzi
Timestarter
LordZeppelin
StefanR10

The Great Annihilator forum mentions

This album has been referenced 22 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From Rhyner 08/13/2026 18:39 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (4 mentions) →

From BestEverAlbums 07/16/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5375): By Elauqsapid
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1992) 2. by (1997) 3. by (1998) 4. by (1973) 5. by (1979) 6. by by (1975) 9. by (2003) 11. by (2003) 12. (1983) 13. by (1970) 14. by by (2006) 16. by (1967) 17. by (1963) 18. by (1999) 19. by (1972) 20. by (2001) 21. by (1993) 22.…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 07/02/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5361): By deadhouse
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1970) 2. by by (1965) 4. (1980) 5. by by (1967) 7. by (1959) 8. by by (1985) 10. by (1967) 12. by (1971) 13. by (1959) 14. by (1970) 15. by (1968) 16. by by (1979) 19. by (1966) 20. by (1969) 21. by (1960) 22. by (1959) 23. by…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

The Great Annihilator comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 8 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
100/100
From 11/10/2011 17:07 | #30298 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
i don't understand how Joy Division can be in so many charts, and this album in so few. a masterpiece !!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 4
Reply
Rating:  
80/100
From 06/06/2015 23:51 | #143202 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
One listen through, there are quite a few memorable moments. Not quite a favorite, but it could become one.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 2
Reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 01/06/2020 22:59 | #246486 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The ultimate balance between Swans' aggressive early records, the acoustic and dark ambiance defining their sound at the time, and their monolithic post-rock behemoths to come.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
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From 06/29/2015 01:19 | #144758 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Where I can find this masterpiece on vinyl.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 0
Reply
From 06/08/2013 22:47 | #78406
@Balance I got you
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Reply
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