'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!
Critic Score
Based on 33 reviews
2012 Ratings: #27 / 1118
Year End Rank: #23
User Score
2012 Rank: #12
Liked by 278 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Skinny
Godspeed have always connected with listeners on a primal level, and they're as captivating and emotionally stirring now as ever.
100
The Guardian
The Godspeed ethos of wordlessly eliciting universal truths is remains as devastatingly effective as ever.
93
Pitchfork

An album of music that is both new and old from a band that we thought we might never hear from again, one we should appreciate while we can.

90
Louder Than War
Godspeed really know how to slow burn a song, building with an amazing tension as the room fill with their dread before it explodes into moments of powerful beauty.
90
Sputnikmusic
At a time where post-rock is more a joke than a reputable genre, Godspeed You! Black Emperor return from Valhalla to show the world how it's done.
90
SPIN
Godspeed is all about wide-open spaces here. And it's easier to find transcendence in the desolation, to get hypnotized by a single note, or get lost in rearranging the four vinyl sides into your own personal manifesto.
90
The 405

It only takes a few seconds of Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! to realise that GY!BE are back to do what they do best; making a glorious cacophony of ringing guitars, singing strings and ferocious feedback. 

89
Paste

It’s tense, it’s beautiful, it’s bleak, it takes the listener from point A to point B while leaving it up to us what the point of the ride is to begin with.

85
Prefix
The album lives up to its name in every way on this powerful, bruising, yet generous record.
85
Beats Per Minute

Allelujah! seems more immediate and more organic, but instead of feeling blown away by it’s unreachable drama and grandeur, with a decade of age behind us and the band, it feels inhabitable in a way Godspeed never has before.

83
A.V. Club

Where previous releases have seen the Canadian outfit reach toward a clarity of emotion and execution, ’Allelujah! sounds muddy and muffled in its messaging.

80
Rolling Stone
Godspeed's music remains as deep, angry, tender, ecstatic and uncompromising as ever.
80
Exclaim!

It may take a while before 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! is accepted amongst the ranks of their earlier work, if that ever happens, but ultimately, this is the same epic, mystifying GY!BE as always.

80
The Needle Drop
With its first album in 10 years, Canadian post-rock giants Godspeed You! Black Emperor manage to bring the same intensity, grit, melodic sensibilities, and ambition that has made the band's previous material so great.
80
Uncut
Post-Bush, post-9/11, post-financial crisis, they sound more like [a] documentary.
80
Mojo

Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! feels simultaneously enormous and tragic; the sound of victory, firmly set in the jaws of defeat.

80
NOW Magazine
They still show no interest in doing things the easy way, and we couldn't be happier about that.
80
DIY
They use a quiet/loud formula to epic create drone-filled symphonies, which rumble, crackle and erupt perfectly.
80
The Observer

Allelujah! picks up where Montreal's premier apocalyptic instrumental outfit left off, setting the collapse of the first world to wordless music.

80
No Ripcord
It's all powerful stuff and it can only be GY!BE.
80
PopMatters

This potent emotional strain that runs throughout 'Allelujah is a confident affirmation of Godspeed's return to prominence. Ten years have very much been worth the wait.

80
musicOMH

‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! rewards immersive, though somewhat uncritical, listening: a glorious hymn to the visceral and transformative power of sound.

80
Drowned in Sound

For now, though, they’ve made a modestly magnificent record that entirely validates this reformation.

75
The Line of Best Fit

On Allelujah!… we get a Godspeed reinvigorated, imbued with their best spirit, the spirit of the rag-tag collective, not equipped (or willing) to meet on the terms of their oppressors, but determined to persist nonetheless.

75
Spectrum Culture

No less subtly political or overtly maniacal, Ascend! possesses all the elements of any Godspeed release and the makings of an essential one.

75
Under the Radar

Marrying an experimental-rock ethos with a symphony's scope, Godspeed once again offers a record that easily matches the intrigue of their album titles and covers. 

70
Slant Magazine
After 18 years, the revered nonconformists have compiled an album that feels like a career-spanning retrospective.
70
Consequence of Sound

Allelujah! Dont’ Bend! Ascend! offers fewer catharses, fewer emotions, and fewer answers, putting more distance than ever between Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the listener.

70
AllMusic

given the discipline and experimentation in the short pieces, and in the creative imagination displayed in rearranging the longer ones to accommodate a larger band, 'Allelujah! Don't Bend Ascend proves that GY!BE still has plenty of captivating things to say.

70
Tiny Mix Tapes

The new recordings are thrilling and arguably more direct than on GY!BE’s classic albums, but I suspect it’s not the new music on the album that makes this album an event; it’s the band’s re-emergence as a cultural text at this moment.

60
The Independent
It's all a bit "junior school music project" at times, and there's nothing John Cale wasn't doing half a century ago, but it's nevertheless an impressive work.
60
Q Magazine
Such willful awkwardness means they're never likely to rise above cult status, but this is still a very welcome form.
barcooper
96

Holy fuck.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is slowly but surely turning out to be one of my favorite bands of all time, with LYSFLATH being one of my favorite albums of all time. Their ability to form some of the most emotionally complex and larger than life music I've ever heard is making me return to their work almost on a daily basis. I came into this album with some pretty high expectations, but I didn't think it would be just as engaging as some of my favorite albums from the group, but ... read more

pengtings
85

this kinda fucks

Leeam2004
88

Mladic is Godspeeds best song but also one of the best album openings ever

FAVORITE TRACKS: Mladic, We Drift Like Worried Fire, Strung Like Lights At Thee Printemps Erable

LEAST FAVORITE TRACK: Their Helicopters Sing

denkirena
70

Mladic is the best track the band ever made but the rest is very forgettable.

Mustachecash
85

Wow
I just continue to love everything they make.

The first track Mladic features and amazing distorted and thick guitar sound that I’ve never heard in GYBE’s previous work. The beginning of it feels like it is taking you on a journey, and its sound is constantly unrelenting. Although this song is about a war criminal, i interpreted it as someone getting beat down, and constantly getting up a fighting back. Overall, it was a great opener.
The following track is anything special, ... read more

redsus
86

Name sounds like a megachurch mantra

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Added on: October 2, 2012