"NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD" - Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Review
Review by Lavender:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a band that really needs no introduction. They're one of the most legendary figures in the world of post rock for classic albums like Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven and F#A#∞. After an extended hiatus through much of the 2000s they returned in 2012 and have since released even more classic material like Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! and G_d's Pee AT STATE's END!. Last month, the band announced their return 3 years after STATE'S END with this uncompromisingly titled 8th album, whose only teaser was its closing track.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is one of my favorite bands of all time and I've never been one to hide it. The band has dropped two albums in my time blogging and I liked them both more than the general consensus. But I won't mince words here, Despite my love for both records, NO TITLE is better. In fact, it's their best album since at least 2012's Allelujah and maybe even dating back to Skinny Fists in 2000. The record spans 6-tracks, three of which run over 10 minutes, three under, rounding out at a 54 minutes that feels impressively tight.
The shortest tracks on the record may leave the lightest impact, though they both serve important purposes. Opener "SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS" kicks the album off with expansive space filled by wiry guitar playing and a variety of background percussion popping in and out before the strings emerge. While it doesn't exactly have a soaring climax it's an introduction to the record by design. The other shortest track is "BROKEN SPIRES AT DEAD KAPITAL" which is mostly composed of strings but the way they drag and grind across the mix is fascinating. The absolutely pummeling final minute of the record feels so foreboding for the rest of the album.
That also leads me into the closing track "GREY BUBBLE - GREEN SHOOTS" which was also the album's only single. I liked it a lot then and I had no idea the magnitude it would eventually convey as the finale to the entire record. It's dramatic string flourishes and repeating instrumental refrains drilled themselves into my brain. It's both a compelling individual song and also a weighty release from the volume of the record as a whole.
That leaves us with the three 10+ minute tracks, which I'll tackle in order. "BABY'S IN A THUNDERCLOUD" leads in from the intro with three minutes of somber guitar chords echoing into hazy distorted space. After that the song works in these windy blasts of blown out noise and a dramatic rush towards the first big crescendo. The serenity that follows is pretty brief and eventually gives way to another building passage marked by this thunderous bass and crashing cymbals that really do start to hit like thunderstorms. It's a stunning conclusion whose reach impressively soars even higher than the first crescendo. The song makes another interesting choice that I think is deliberate with a shockingly short outro by Godspeed You! standards. It feels like the full closure of playing the song out is being robbed from you, but in a way that makes the emotion of the song hit even harder.
That eventually gives way to "RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD" which begins with disjointed chimes that seem to be calling back and forth to each other. When the thick guitar lines eventually break it up they feel like they're totally blindsiding you. It's the first moment on the record that feels truly triumphant in the ways GYBE's music often has in the past. The circular guitar chords and punchy drums give this driving, almost epic sensation. But around the 6-minuyte mark that triumphant progression is ripped away in an instant. What follows is the record's first lyrics, a sampled passage that has to cut through the album's persistent distortion and murky mixes to even be heard. Eventually the energy rushes back into the track again reaching an even higher crescendo than before with these up-tempo pumping drums that build and build and build in the face of the sonic chaos surrounding them. Though the outro here is slightly longer than its predecessor, it feels like an opportunity to fully exhale is being taken away.
Finally, that leaves us with the best of the album's many triumphs "PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS." It's the darkest and most foreboding song on the record which becomes impossible to ignore once the drums kick in after a few minutes. The entire record has a remarkable ability to avoid being overly polished and create a sonic sludge that's irresistible, while also featuring instrumentation cascading through the mix. "PALE SPECTATOR" is the peak of that with n metallic percussion and layered guitar lines that eventually give way to some of the most anxiety inducing music I've ever heard. The intensity and anguish that song manages to achieve is astounding.
NO TITLE is a triumphant, even if it isn't as triumphant as some of its predecessors. It exists in a space between the band at their most apocalyptic and their most life-affirming. While it doesn't literally SAY as much as most musical statements, it manages to be poignant and articulate regardless. The mixing of these songs allow them to wallow in their depths and rob listeners of their catharsis when needed, but the sheer musicianship and songwriting on display sets up for captivating climaxes throughout regardless. Godspeed You! Black Emperor have been good for so long that praising them almost feels cliche. But NO TITLE feels like the latest entry into a pantheon of records that manage to achieve even more then their already excellent baseline. It's awe-inspiring proof of the power that post-rock has to say what words themselves can't. 9/10
For more great indie check out my review of Beth Gibbons' Lives Outgrown
