In an age where many bands appear to be reuniting for the money, Michael Gira’s Swans are making some of the most challenging music of their career.

Sure, The Seer’s no Filth – it’s melodically rich, full of lush instrumentation lit by blood red moons – but it’s an album that could take months, even years for a listener to fully absord, its 30-minute title track that swings from gentle stretches of guitar to lurching gallows doom only the start. Gira describes the album as 30 years in the making, taking in Swans’ start as New York industrialists, their more melodic ’90s period, and his work with Body Lovers and Angels of Light, and he’s right – The Seer feels like Swans as its most pure, constantly evolving its songs as physical, transcendent live prayer. You can read FACT’s recent interview with Gira here, and stream The Seer at NPR.