Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
Constellation Records

'asunder (?'s?nd?/) adverb: asunder
apart.
"those whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder"
into pieces, to pieces, to bits, to shreds
"the very fabric of society may be torn asunder"
(derived from the expression "to rip asunder")
Origin:
Old English on sundran 'in or into a separate place'; compare with sunder.
Asunder definition, into separate parts; in or into pieces: Lightning split the old oak tree asunder.
Apart from each other either in position or in direction: The curtains had been drawn asunder. [Middle English, from Old English on sundran ...
...'into separate pieces'. So if you've torn asunder the breakup letter from your girlfriend; you've forcefully ripped it into separate... asunder (comparative more asunder, superlative most asunder) ... Lest anyone find her treasure, she tore the map asunder and cast its pieces into the wind.
(Thefreedictionary.com / Merriam-Webster.com / wiktionary.org / wikipedia.org)

The empire strikes back. Again. ....

Like always with Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE), the rock orchestra come up with massive pieces of work. Opuses. They sound monumental and grand. Every time. Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress is another doomsday re-visit. This is a four-headed monster, as Assunder... unveils four pieces: "Peasantry or 'Light! Inside of Light!'", "Lambs' Breath", "Asunder, Sweet", and "Piss Crowns Are Trebled". The album, the four tracks will leave you numb, crawling the floor wondering what hit you. The album's four tracks are based on GY!BE's "Behemoth", a '45-minute live suite' which has been performed live a number of times since 2012. It has also been previously recorded onstage for the concert series We Have Signal.

Well, I said massive, and I'm not sure if I'm up to date as a GY!BE listener anymore. I get too easily exhausted by their soundscapes. GY!BE present scary, gloomy compositions, but I'm just not ready for their horror operas right now. I'm sorry. I'm not. Maybe later. Guess I'll revisit some of their back catalogue to check out what happened in the past. Asunder,... is described as 'a lo-fi, black and white image of animals grazing, with trees in the background...'. Me, I'll just stick around, waiting for the summer. For some sun and light.

Copyright © 2015 Håvard Oppøyen