Holy Money

by Swans

Holy Money cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 27 March 1986
  • Label: K.422, PVC
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 35:46
  • Community rating: 3.76/5 from 14 ratings

Artists on this release: Jarboe, Norman Westberg, Algis Kizys, Harry Crosby, Michael Gira, Ronald Gonzales, Ivan Nahem, Ted Parsons

Album Notes & Community Reviews

A direct continuation of the sessions that produced *Greed*, Swans' *Holy Money* refines the band's industrial-noise punishment into a more structured, yet equally suffocating, form. The album is built on monolithic, repetitive rhythms and brutalist bass grooves, over which Michael Gira’s declamatory vocals explore themes of power, submission, and debased spirituality. This era marks a crucial transition, introducing the spectral presence of Jarboe's vocals and integrating piano and tape loops, expanding the sonic palette beyond raw abrasion. It's a harrowing document of a band weaponizing sound toward a more complex musicality.

Genres

Descriptors: abrasive, bleak, menacing, repetitive, transitional, droning, DIY, dissonant, loud, distorted

Tracklist

  1. A Hanging (05:48)
  2. You Need Me (01:22)
  3. Fool (# 2) (05:50)
  4. A Screw (Holy Money) (05:00)
  5. Another You (07:44)
  6. Money Is Flesh (# 2) (04:56)
  7. Coward (05:06)

Credits

More from Swans: full discography