The Seer
by Swans

Album
The Seer by Swans
Year: 2012
Release date: 2012-08-28
Overall rank: 510th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 669 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 10 albums of 2012 (9th)
Award Top 100 albums of of the 2010s (71st)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (510th)

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Swans bestography

The Seer is ranked 3rd best out of 40 albums by Swans on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Swans is To Be Kind which is ranked number 260 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,102.

Swans album bestography « Higher ranked (510th)
The Seer This album (510th)
The Seer Lower ranked (1,359th) »
Children Of God

(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 Seer track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Track pick (880 - 181 votes)
Lunacy
Average Rating: 88 (181 votes)Comments: View 2
2.
Mother Of The World
Average Rating: 85 (159 votes)Comments: View 4
3.
The Wolf
Average Rating: 78 (134 votes)Comments: View 3
4.
Track pick (870 - 164 votes)
The Seer
Average Rating: 87 (164 votes)Comments: View 6
5.
The Seer Returns
Average Rating: 84 (148 votes)Comments: View 2
6.
93 Ave. Blues
Average Rating: 77 (132 votes)Comments: View 6
7.
The Daughter Brings The Water
Average Rating: 79 (134 votes)Comments: View 2
8.
Song For A Warrior
Average Rating: 86 (163 votes)Comments: View 4
9.
Avatar
Average Rating: 85 (147 votes)Comments: View 2
10.
Track pick (880 - 163 votes)
A Piece Of The Sky
Average Rating: 88 (163 votes)Comments: View 7
11.
The Apostate
Average Rating: 86 (148 votes)Comments: View 2

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

The Seer rankings

The Seer rankings summary
Overall rank: 510th | 2010s rank: 71st | 2012 rank: 9th  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: 1 hour ago)

The Seer collection

The Seer ratings

Average Rating: 
81/100 (from 669 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 669 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !		4 days ago Siromynian  Ratings distribution  1,79874/100
 
100/100
 !		09/21/2026 05:43 ASOARE  Ratings distribution  2,55378/100
 
80/100
 !		09/09/2026 14:25 Tamthebam  Ratings distribution  23,39669/100

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 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 81.1/100, a mean average of 79.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 81.2/100. The standard deviation for this album is 17.1.


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The Seer favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 139 members

AAL2014
Iglou2981
Pepeov
NeonOctifish
radio-head
genialbibi
EP
MW19704U
Svelte8
MichaelAngelo

The Seer forum mentions

This album has been referenced 152 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 10/02/2026 08:18 in Monthly overall chart movements - September 2026
“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”
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From BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements - August 2026
“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”
View forum post →

From BestEverAlbums 08/30/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5420): By Chris15789
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Chris15789 () 1. by (2002) 2. by (2015) 3. by (1968) 4. by (2022) 5. by (2002) 6. by (1998) 7. by (1969) 9. by by (2023) 11. by by (1997) 13. by by (1967) 15. by (2003) 16. by (1968) 17. by by (2002) 19. by (1979) 20. by (2005) 21. by by by…”
View forum post →

View all forum mentions

The Seer comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 47 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
75/100
From 12/14/2012 22:34 | #57922 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
I'm not totally sure about this one.. I listened to the full album from start to finish three times now, which I guess means something, considering it's like 2 hours long. There are moments of pure beauty here. A Piece of the Sky is one of those. I get what YIS is trying to say about its awkward structure, but it actually stopped bothering me after a couple of listens (and I listened to that song/piece alone far more times than anything else). Even the droney first half doesn't bother me, and I'm usually not a fan of stuff like that. In general I think the second half is stronger and features some great, post-rock, atmospheric climaxes.

But it doesn't work as well on some other tracks. Take the title track. That is a mammoth track in length, and while a lot happens in those 30+ minutes, I feel it doesn't quite do for me what some other similar tracks could. Personally, it reminds me of GYBE's Mladic, which is a shorter song, yet manages to accomplish (to my ears at least) more in that time. The Seer (song) had some "almost" Mladic-like moments.. But not quite...

One thing I hated about this record was how seriously they seem to take themselves. With those chants or whatever not helping the situation either. Basically I can't immerse myself into this stuff as much as I would have to, to really be blown away by those soundscapes.

Bottom line, it's certainly an impressive piece of music, and I def understand some people's fascination with it, but for me.... That fascination does come only in sparse moments, of which A Piece of the Sky was my favourite.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
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Rating:  
85/100
From 01/18/2013 23:06 | #62027 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
In the future filmakers who make war movies are totally going to use these songs for their soundtracks. Haunting, rough, and downright scary, this is definitely the best art rock album to emerge from 2012.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 8
Reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 02/19/2013 00:02 | #65455 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
UPDATE**
the album has grown on me over time and I can now say that I love this album. Its 1 of the 4 records that i own from 2012 and I believe this album deserves at least the no 3 slot. seriously tell me how this is worse than channel orange or blunderbuss.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
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Rating:  
100/100
From 09/04/2012 07:45 | #49929 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
The only album on earth that alters space-time !
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 9
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Rating:  
95/100
From 01/13/2013 01:24 | #61272 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
This album is so perfect, i love how raw and unedited it feels. One of my favorite Swans albums.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
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Best Albums of  2012
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