While my favorite Swans record is White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity, I submitted COP because it is both an early industrial masterpiece and because it was the album that took in the best ideas of No Wave and somehow fused them with more contemporary "heavy" ideas for 1984. I sometimes wonder if Slayer and other bands were paying attention to Swans at this point in their career, because elements of COP's production approach feels echoed in a lot of sludge and metal-tinged albums of the second half of the 80's. 'Clay Man' and the title track are particularly hard hitting, but the whole record is remarkably consistent.
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