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Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet, and Other Distress

Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder, Sweet, and Other Distress

Written by: Mike Hogan

Writing a review of a Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a tricky thing, honestly. They’re such a monumental figure in the post-rock scene; anybody who could possibly be reading this review is already well aware of what they’re getting into. And then of course, there isn’t really anyone quite like GY!BE. The post-rock sound can get pretty unique and eclectic, but there truly is no band quite like these guys. The only benchmark is themselves, but that is a rather lofty benchmark, indeed.

So basically, Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s newest album, Asunder, Sweet, and Other Distress has some big shoes to fill. This album is the follow up to 2012’s Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! which, while not really new material was the first new release from the Montreal based group since their hiatus in 2003. And I suppose, in the strictest sense of the word, this isn’t truly new material either, this is the result of a composition that the group have been playing while on tour over the past few years, using their audience as a sort of focus group for the piece. It was deemed the “Behemoth” by Godspeed’s legion of fans, and even after it was whittled down and “polished” for the final recording of the album, it is still very apparent why that name came to be.

While Godspeed have definitely developed a signature sound for themselves, to say the least, there are some undeniable subtle nuances that really do make each album unique once you get to know them. Lift Your Skinny Fists was a brighter, more hopeful album; a stark contrast to its predecessor, F# A# Infinity which sounded like the sonic incarnation of the apocalypse, so much so that it was used as the backdrop to the film 28 Days Later. It embodied the feel of the end of the world, deafeningly bleak, with monstrous, chaotic crescendos breaking down into an eerie nothingness; silence only broken by scattered dissonant chords or haunting sound clips. It was with that album that Godspeed made their stand in the upper echelon of musical geniuses. There aren’t many musicians that can not only create such profound emotions, but also paint a vivid landscape using so few notes and sounds. And it is this trait that went on to really define the band’s sound, this uniqueness has carried them through all of their albums, always using but a few carefully chosen notes to express complete and coherent thoughts and stories. The drone of their crescendos went on to become so quintessentially Godspeed that anyone that dared to replicate it fell flat on their faces, well in the shadow of the post-rock goliath.

And if F# A# Infinity was the apocalypse, then Asunder, Sweet, and Other Distress is whatever happens next. As F# A# Infinity remained in my regular rotation for years and years, I never thought a greater level of darkness could be reached, but then again, no one can ever really predict what Godspeed is capable of. This newest release is heavier, darker, and although it clocks in as their shortest full length album to date, somehow manages to become an even more colossal composition. And a composition it is, like every other Godspeed album, this is not an album to be viewed as a collection of songs, but one great, overbearing masterpiece, broken down into subtle movements not constrained by a tracklisting.

So basically, I could leave it at saying this is another album that sounds like a Godspeed You! Black Emperor album, but that would be a great injustice to the band, and the real genius and detail that goes into these albums. Each one of their albums, which retaining the same sonic characteristics throughout, retain a sense of individuality; each album has an undeniable character that can only truly be understood once you really familiarize yourself with each album. And Asunder, Sweet, and Other Distress has the darkest soul of all. It isn’t as chaotic as the apocalypse drones of F# A# Infinity, and it definitely lacks any semblance of hope that you get from Lift Your Skinny Fists. This is a calculated darkness, a composed distress; it is darkness in it’s purest, but most gargantuan form; a progression from the dark early works, as if they have made some sense of their demons, only to find them to be even worse than they imagined.

9/10 – A brilliantly dark but focused composition from one of the greatest, most unique names in post-rock. It only falls short of a 10, because the only album I would ever give a 10 would be F# A# Infinity. Funny how that works.

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