"NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD"

Famed post-rockers Godspeed You! Black Emperor return in 2024 with their 'No Title?' record, an album that is above all else really atmospheric but also quite boring. With a tracklist of six compositions, the record runs for about an hour and is an all-instrumental work that features three long and three shorter pieces, with an overall melancholic, occasionally even tragic tone that is further highlighted by the drone-like qualities of the music. And in somewhat typical GY!BE the listener is bombarded with wide and expansive washes of sound as each track develops gradually as an independent entity and always in a somewhat hypnotically. One can sense the fear and anxiety of the tracks, which is exactly what I imagine is the purpose of the record.

However, probably relying a bit too much on the usual formula, or generally lacking a clear vision of each track's destination, the album tends to become too tedious way too often, and with the longer tracks going on for too long, the entire listen becomes difficult, taking away all the possible vigor of the music. The truth is that there are some great moments which unfortunately get lost in the extended lengths of the songs, and even if you catch a riff or a rhythm that is in some way inspiring or exciting, it is necessarily followed by a drooling extension that approaches improvisation, in contrast to previous works of the band that have a better structure, like 'Luciferian Towers', for example. To end on a high note, the flow of 'Pale Spectator Takes Photographs' is actually quite nice and the monolithic qualities of this track are masterfully transformed into its dynamic and passionate ending. 'Grey Rubble - Green Shoots' is another strong entry and a worthy follow-up for the previous song, a great ending to an album that could have been more interesting.