In a sense, perhaps “Swans” isn’t the correct avialae name for a band of their nature. Rising from the ashes in 2010 with their first post-hiatus release ‘My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky’, it seemed that maybe Swans would fall prey to the same fate most reuniting bands these days succumb to: achieving far less then their legacy would suggest them capable of. Any worrying concerns in regards to their return to glory was forgotten when their next record ‘The Seer’ was found on many critics’ “Best of 2012” lists – knocking any anxiousness lifelong fans had about Swans’ future career out the window. And now, it seems that with their 2014 release ‘To Be Kind,’ this bird’s wings have fully outstretched.

‘To Be Kind’ is nearly as long as the band’s creative life. At just over two hours long, it serves as a sort of effort justification. ‘To Be Kind’ is tough. Every track seems designed to punish the listener; from the band’s signature gruelling repetition to Michael Gira’s frightening vocal performances, there’s a reward at the end of the nail-ridden road. A hypnotic bass line introduces us to the behemoth on Screen Shot. Soon comes the word ‘jarring’ in various forms of instruments: tinny percussion, creepy piano notes… It’s one of the most impressive introductions to an album all year.

Some Things We Do is the album’s shortest track at just over five minutes. It starts off pretty and enchanting, but soon come the dark, spiralling strings alongside Michael Gira’s numb admittance of humankind’s poisonous nature. Gira doesn’t sugar-coat our actions when he says: “We breathe, we steal, we bind, we build/We seed, we fuck, we rage, we weep”. There’s no real climax by the end – and that’s scary in and of itself; there is no payoff and no retribution. It plays out as fact.

The progressive She Loves Us is filled with breaks. Little bursts of desire, both musically and lyrically. It sounds as if Gira himself is breaking down as the guitar builds up more and more – eventually repeatedly screaming “Fuck, fuck, fuck” to the point where it doesn’t sound like they’re even lyrics to the song itself anymore. The result is intense frustration.

It seems Swans are getting more confident with every flap. And with a second stellar album in a row less than two years apart from each other, one wonders how high this bird can fly before eventually gliding back to earth, or if they’ll return at all – as there’s always the exciting possibility that Swans will never fade, but instead, burst into flames as quickly as they did once before.