Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

GY!BE were very much missed. The last decade has been tumultuous, lurching, shocking and precarious – the visage of development and a new Enlightenment countered by a growing sense of malaise and discomfort, and their music stands as some of the finest, most significant and most powerful cultural reactions to such a state of affairs. They left on what was widely perceived as a mis-step, and thus this record has to be one of the strongest comebacks in recent memory, in terms of both a follow-up and a return to action. Violent and beautiful, grand and intricate, expansive and intimate – they encompass so much in their sonic landscape that it can be simply breath-taking. It’s impossible for your heart to be still when listening to this record.