| Luciferian Towers | ||||
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| Released | 22 September 2017 | |||
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| Length | 44:04 | |||
| Label | Constellation | |||
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| Godspeed You! Black Emperor chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Luciferian Towers | ||||
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Luciferian Towers (sometimes stylized as "Luciferian Towers") is the sixth studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released on 22 September 2017 by Constellation Records. [1] [2]
According to the Constellation Records one sheet about the album, Luciferian Towers was made "in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. Eyes up and filled with dreadful joy – we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. We recorded it all in a burning motorboat." A list of "grand demands" also accompanied the information about the album, including:
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 78/100 [4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| The A.V. Club | B+ [6] |
| Metal Storm | 7.2/10 [7] |
| Pitchfork | 7.3/10 [8] |
| Pretty Much Amazing | A− [9] |
Luciferian Towers was well received by contemporary music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78 based on 19 reviews. [4]
In a four-star review for AllMusic, Paul Simpson concluded that "Like many of Godspeed's albums, Luciferian Towers might seem bleak or funereal on the surface, but ultimately, it's incredibly optimistic and hopeful. Perhaps out of necessity, the group seem more inspired here than they have in a while, and the result is arguably their best work since their 2000 opus Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven ." The album received a B+ from The A.V. Club 's Josh Modell, summing it up by calling the music, "incredible sounds to smash the state by". [6] Sean T. Collins gave the album a rating of 7.3 out of 10 in the review for Pitchfork , stating "Godspeed's music is undergirded by its musicians' radical leftist politics (I mean, look at that press release), and that means there's hope rather than despair at its heart—a belief that collective struggle against our overlords is a battle worth fighting instead of a foregone conclusion to surrender to. It's this spirit that animates Luciferian Towers, the band's most melodic and powerfully positive-sounding album to date. One glance at the world around us offers a persuasive argument that it's the spirit we need." [8]
Pretty Much Amazing reviewer Luke Fowler also praised the album, writing that "Luciferian Towers is a better album than Asunder . I'd venture that it's even better than 2012's 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! by virtue of its interludes not being completely disposable. It's less bold than their earliest and best work (I wish they'd make another double LP one of these days), but it bodes well for their future, and stands as one of the best albums of the year." [9]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Undoing a Luciferian Towers" | 7:47 |
| 2. | "Bosses Hang" | 14:45 |
| 3. | "Fam / Famine" | 6:44 |
| 4. | "Anthem for No State" | 14:48 |
| Total length: | 44:04 | |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Undoing a Luciferian Towers" | 7:47 |
| 2. | "Bosses Hang, Pt. I" | 4:39 |
| 3. | "Bosses Hang, Pt. II" | 4:40 |
| 4. | "Bosses Hang, Pt. III" | 5:24 |
| 5. | "Fam / Famine" | 6:44 |
| 6. | "Anthem for No State, Pt. I" | 3:05 |
| 7. | "Anthem for No State, Pt. II" | 2:55 |
| 8. | "Anthem for No State, Pt. III" | 8:36 |
| Total length: | 43:50 | |
| Chart (2017) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [10] | 58 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [11] | 131 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [12] | 100 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [13] | 112 |
| Scottish Albums (OCC) [14] | 11 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [15] | 34 |
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band that originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located in Montreal. After the release of their debut album, F♯ A♯ ∞, in 1997, the group toured regularly from 1998 to 2003. Their second album, 2000's Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, received critical acclaim and has been named as one of the best albums of the decade. This was followed by 2002's Yanqui U.X.O. In 2003, the band went on hiatus in order for members to pursue other musical interests. In the intervening period, the group was occasionally rumored to have broken up, but eventually reconvened in 2010. Since reforming, they have released four more albums: 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! (2012), which won the 2013 Polaris Music Prize; Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress (2015); Luciferian Towers (2017); and G_d's Pee at State's End! (2021).
Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven is the second studio album by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, released as a double album October 9, 2000 on vinyl by Constellation, and November 8, 2000 on CD by Kranky. It was listed on multiple decade-end lists as one of the greatest albums of the 2000s.
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