[Reaper16]

11. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!

This band needs no introduction; they’re titans of post-rock. This new album then is a titanic occasion, but not in the disaster sense. There are two 20-minute long songs here (basically entirely written in 2002 and shelved when the band was on hiatus), and they are superb. Moving in all of the best ways that a Godspeed song can be. Truly epic builds into gigantic, explosive, emotional climaxes. Connecting these two tracks are a couple of noise/drone songs that provide texture and breathing room between the two big buildups. This album was written post-9/11, and you can sort of tell in the slight Arab-influence of “Mladic.” Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for the band) the palpable tension and unease over world politics that oozes out of these songs is just as relevant in 2012 as it was a whole decade earlier when the album was mostly written. I don’t need to say anything more here. It’s a new Godspeed album.