Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead’ album review: a politically-charged masterpiece
THE SKINNY: For years, Godspeed You! Black Emperor have been known as one of the leading bands of the post-rock genre. With every release, they’ve mastered the craft of making textured, intricate and emotionally poignant worlds, relying largely on their instrumentals to convey their messages. They prove that lyrics aren’t the only way to motivate or move a listener in a direct manner, and with their most recent album, No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead, it’s hard to walk away from it without feeling profoundly affected.
The album title is a reference to the thousands of Palestinian people who have lost their lives since the conflict in the Middle East began, “tiny bodies” included. This tragedy and turmoil fuels the six songs on Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s latest album. It is a bleak and intense listen, but one that truly communicates the need for people to remain switched on to current events. ‘Pay attention’ is the stark message.
It is so easy for many people to get desensitised to the events that are happening across the world as thousands of individuals are added to the death toll every week, and the news shares more stories of indescribable violence and loss. Yet, No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead forces us to confront the horrors, it humanises them, making it an absolutely vital piece of art.
This is a record that induces goosebumps in the listener. It’s visceral, melancholic, elegiac, and even scary at times. When the album goes to its deepest, darkest territories, at times sounding like a funeral march, you can’t help but imagine the terrors of being in a wasteland where everything is destroyed, from beautiful buildings to innocent individuals.
The band have always been fiercely political, and they refuse to water down their beliefs to make their art accessible. No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead is one of their most impressive records to date, and you won’t be able to listen to it without feeling as though you need to take a step back and sit down. This is not an album made with commercial success in mind in the slightest. It has been made out of a desire to use music as a tool for urgent communication and protest, for remembrance and reflection.
For fans of: Art at its most important.
A concluding comment from David K Shipler’s Arab and Jew: “Watching foreign affairs is sometimes like watching a magician; the eye is drawn to the hand performing the dramatic flourishes, leaving the other hand – the one doing the important job – unnoticed.”
No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead track by track:
Release Date: October 4th | Label: Constellation | Producer: Self-produced
‘Sun Is A Hole Sun Is Vapors’: At five-and-a-half minutes long, this is one of the album’s shorter moments. Yet, it packs just as much of a punch as the sprawling, longer numbers through its drawn-out guitars and beautiful textures. [4/5]
‘Babys In A Thundercloud’: A moving piece, this track builds across 13 minutes, with melancholic guitars gently spiralling across the soundscape before a faster pace builds, and emotive violins create an atmosphere of uncertainty. Everything crashes down in a powerful, explosive end. [4.5/5]
‘Raindrops Cast In Lead’: Another long number is next, evoking a desolate atmosphere laden with the aftermath of pain in its opening notes. It builds like its predecessor into a fast-paced frenzy before slowing back down and then picking up again. [4.5/5]
‘Broken Spires At Dead Kapital’: This is the album’s darkest and most soul-destroying track, producing the feeling of a slow walk through a site of destruction where everything is eerily quiet. The deep strings give it a mournful quality, which are then intersected with heavy bangs on a drum, sending shockwaves through the listener. [5/5]
‘Pale Spectator Takes Photographs’: The previous track continues into this one, emanating with pure despair. However, as the song builds with more ferocious power, a clear sense of anger is made blindingly apparent. [5/5]
‘Grey Rubble – Green Shoots’: With the closing track, the band offer a slight glimmer of hope for change, as evidenced by the title, allowing listeners a slight way out of utter hopelessness. There is a bittersweetness almost, as the delicate strings carry us away on a tender journey towards hoping that there are people out there who want suffering to end. [4/5]
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