Children Of God
by Swans

Album
Children Of God by Swans
Year: 1987
Release date: 1987-10-19
Overall rank: 1,362nd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 281 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1987 (27th)
Award Top albums of of the 1980s (216th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,362nd)

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Swans bestography

Children Of God is ranked 4th 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 6,107.

Swans album bestography « Higher ranked (509th)
The Seer This album (1,362nd)
Children Of God Lower ranked (1,748th) »
The Glowing Man

(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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Children Of God rankings

Children Of God rankings summary
Overall rank: 1,362nd | 1980s rank: 216th | 1987 rank: 27th  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)

Children Of God collection

Children Of God ratings

Average Rating: 
80/100 (from 281 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 281 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 !		10/05/2026 05:29 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  16,17570/100
 
70/100
 !		08/27/2026 23:10 Melway94  Ratings distribution  11883/100
 
85/100
 !		08/07/2026 14:01 JamesMowbray  Ratings distribution  5,72469/100

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 80.0/100, a mean average of 79.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.7.


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Children Of God favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 30 members

mash
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Children Of God forum mentions

This album has been referenced 23 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
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…”
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From neilgee 11/29/2025 05:43 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View forum topic (2 mentions) →

From stangetzaway 05/26/2024 02:26 in What album are you listening to right now?
“What album are you listening to right now?”
View forum topic (14 mentions) →

View all forum mentions

Children Of God comments

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Rating:  
85/100
From 04/28/2015 22:43 | #140493 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Albums like Children of God are the true classics of the 80s. Brilliant album that definitely stands strong even at 28 years of age.
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Rating:  
90/100
From 12/01/2014 23:30 | #128452 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Dark and chaotic, yet still somehow beautiful. A true masterpiece.
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From 04/10/2016 01:51 | #163570 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
This is among the heaviest albums of all time.
And the closest thing to christian rock that I enjoy as much as my life.
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From 04/03/2021 01:22 | #268118 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Finally repressed, it's been so long. The first batch is sold out but the 2nd is on pre-order at younggodrecords dot com. I'd get that while it's available if you collect vinyl or cds and like Swans. Gira signs each one he ships out!

I heard they're working on the Feel Good Now repress next for vinyl and I check for it every other day at least. This line-up of Swans is among the best!
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From 11/27/2012 02:18 | #56005 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Very dark. I like dark albums.
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Best Albums of  1987
1. The Joshua Tree by U2
2. Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
3. Sign "O" The Times by Prince
4. Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths
5. You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur
6. Document by R.E.M.
7. Bad by Michael Jackson
8. Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode
9. Sister by Sonic Youth
10. Substance by New Order