GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR - No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead

Art is not meant to flatter hearts and consciences; rather, it must stir them, confront them with questions, with pain, and push them toward at least an ideological rebellion. The Godspeed You! Black Emperor know this well, being among the few musicians unafraid to voice strong, unsettling ideas, relying solely on the penetrating beauty of music, thus forgoing even the use of words.

The Canadian band's new album starts from February 13, 2024, the day the official death toll in Gaza stood at 28,340. Today, after a year of war, the number of dead has more than doubled, and according to independent American sources (specifically the journal The Lancet), it's likely that — counting the missing, and deaths from disease caused by deprivation, from wounds, from lack of water or food, from lack of treatment for chronic conditions — the toll could approach two hundred thousand.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor have always been close to the Palestinian cause, ever since "Yanqui U.X.O." (2002), whose liner notes read "Ariel Sharon, surrounded by 1,000 soldiers, walks on the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa), thus provoking another Intifada." Now they have only one way left to voice their dissent: composing a new symphony of pain, in a cruel and hopeless world.

"No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead" is the most powerful title any album could aspire to this year (a nameless album, just as the thousands of Palestinian victims are nameless). Having already celebrated the dream of the collapse of American imperialism and economic lobbies on albums like "Luciferian Towers" and "G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!!", the Montreal outfit now raises its voice over the tragedy of the heavy civilian losses in Gaza: 28,340 is a reference to the estimated death toll at the time the record was finished, a figure that has since dramatically doubled.

The most explicitly political album of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's career also happens to feature one of the Canadian band's most inspired and compelling sets. The dark reverbs and guitar textures of "Sun Is A Hole Sun Is Vapors" undoubtedly revisit familiar sonic tropes, but amid the faint murmurs at the start, where voices mimic the sound of gunfire (bang bang) as if it were a simple children's game, a sun-drenched melody creeps in that could easily pass for a potential patriotic anthem.

This semi-virtual phase is followed by a first decisive step toward reality: "Babys In A Thundercloud" is a lengthy exploration of the band's many sonic clichés, with guitars evoking harsh desert landscapes and dark passages soon countered by an almost playful, building rhythm. What seems like the classic GY!BE fabric gradually takes on dramatic, elegiac tones, the violin inflaming its rockier side before becoming co-protagonist alongside the western-tinged guitar, which merges with the earlier desert atmospheres; the scorching, epic guitar notes once again heat things up, delivering one of the most evocative and powerful riffs the band has ever put together.

But the soul of the project lies in the long "Raindrops Castle In Lead", an alternation of bodiless drone music, raging guitars, and moments of calm reminiscent of a post-war lull, and while the violin traces some of the band's sweetest melodies, a final roar sets the stage for the stark antithesis of "Broken Spires At Dead Capital": just as in the bitter reality of war-torn lands there is little room for hope, menacing, bleak electronic textures and strings weeping tears instead of notes slowly erode everything, giving way to the cynicism of "Pale Spectator Takes Photographs", where the sense of loneliness and isolation becomes even more agonizing — a title that encapsulates the horror of humanity's indifference toward an endless cruelty.

At this point, even the sequence of track titles takes on an increasingly important role: in "Grey Rubble — Green Shoots" tragedy and romanticism nearly intertwine, once again catching the listener off guard, leaving a strong impression that the Canadian band's sound has softened. And it is here, in this hall of mirrors, that it's worth asking a question: have we truly grown so used to such rage and pain that we now accept it, unable to move beyond a numb, apathetic compassion?

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06/10/2024