Album Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - No Title As Of 13 February 2024, 28,340 Dead
Reviewed by Rob Barker
Godspeed You! Black Emperor have been making their particular brand of noise since 1994 (excluding a tiny hiatus a bit ago), and it’s fair to say that they’ve calved their own place into the post-rock/avant-garde scene nicely. With a huge lineup, closer to that of an orchestra than your run-of-the-mill band, there’s no wonder they are able to create the iconic, layered epics of their past release. “No Title As Of 13 February 2024, 28340 Dead” is no exception to this. An awe-inspiring close-to-an-hour of ethereal, towering musicianship awaits the listener. It’s not for the faint of heart, but then if you’re in GY!BE territory, you either know (and love) what you’re in for, or are looking for something more along the experimental and unconventional lines anyway.
The album commences with Sun Is a Hole Sun Is Vapours. The first minute or so opens up with a noisescape not dissimilar to what you might expect from Coil, heading into a guitar piece that wouldn’t go amiss on an Earth album. Babys In a Thundercloud is next, with a guitar tone that almost makes you smell the heat rising from the sand. When the drumbeat enters (a good three minutes into the droning intro) it almost sounds out of place in its joviality, but somehow clicks perfectly and work wonders.
This album makes very interesting juxtaposition between bleak and joyful, and the third track Raindrops Cast in Lead captures that dynamic perfectly, building into an almost Mr Blue Sky type outro in its eerie happiness. Broken Spires at Dead Kapital is a saaaaaaaad sad sad sad sad sad sad, bleak, grainy, sad sounding pit of despair of an interlude, blending beautifully into Pale Spectator Takes Photos. This track reminds me of Sunn o))) and Ulver’s collaboration with the Terrestrials album. Unsettling, warbly, almost broken tones of a warped tape. A haunting, monolithic omen of an unknown danger. More progression as this track enters the second half, really letting loose the bands avant-garde tendencies, reminiscent of Maudlin of the Well.
The album completes with Grey Rubble – Green Shoots; a haunted waltz on a sinking ship, a climactic culmination of some of GY!BE’s most epic, defining, and frankly best features showcased in the emphatic finality of this monstrous release.
Not that we’d expect anything less, but GY!BE have unleashed yet another masterpiece of an album. I can’t pretend that it’s an album that everyone will love; it’s certainly strange, it’s certainly unconventional, and it’s (likely) not one to put on at a party where people want to dance the night away. No Title As Of 13 February 2024, 28340 Dead is an experience to savour when the mood is right. Its crushing heaviness, its weird beauty, and its inarguable power are all works of art to behold. Listen, appreciate, and enjoy.
