Slant: "It's hard to think of anyone who would have the mettle to have Devendra Banhart duet with their five-year-old daughter on a track called "You Fucking People Make Me Sick," much less get away with it. It's this kind of inspired, risky brilliance that informs My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, signaling the sharp return of a group that would like you pretend they never left."
NME: "'No Words/No Thoughts', the opening track of Swans' first LP in 14 years, is
a charge into the valley of death; drums are a fusillade from either side, bells crash like broken spurs, oppressive roars of guitars are like rainclouds bursting overhead, mixing blood with mud. It, like the rest of this astonishing, febrile album, is confrontational and intense."
A.V. Club: "The full-length is the group's first since 1996, and although singer-keyboardist Jarboe is absent, Gira and longtime guitarist Norman Westberg have sired a leviathan of an album. It resembles all of Swans' previous work, yet none of it: "Reeling The Liars In" is a righteous, vindictive hymn, while "My Birth" is a crushing pulse of existential lightlessness."
Pitchfork: "This album is the antithesis of 2010's gooey let's-all-be-friends chillwave fun. The only way My Father would make sense on a beach is if nuclear winter had broken out."
My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is out now via Young God.
