Raindrops Cast In Lead

A look into my favourite album of all time

Album cover "NO TITLE AS OF FEBRUARY 13 2024, 28,340 DEAD" by Godspeed! You Black Emperor

I visited Iceland in October of 2024, the same time as the eighth studio album by “Godspeed! You Black Emperor”. There was a strange contrast between the beauty and idyllic nature of that country, compared to what the album was describing. I was listening to a genocide while I sat in peace and quiet.

The name alone is pure and unfiltered anger. NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD is just about as blunt as an album can be to its audience. It tells us what we need to know; there is a genocide occuring right now in Palestine and there’s not much we can do about it unless we stand up and share our voices. That’s what this album is; a voice. An angry voice.

Therefore, you’d be surprised to hear of the album’s (almost) complete absense of vocals. We spend almost an hour listening to driving guitars, powerful drums and aggressive basslines. A single guitar note pierces an empty soundscape, and is joined by a quiet beating drum. It builds and builds to a cacophony of sound; it feels like hope. That’s the overall message of the album in my opinion. It gives me hope, it makes me see beauty in the world. The lack of vocals leaves the album to let you find your own meaning, and the one I found is of perseverance. The palestinian people will not back down.

Photo by David Brendan Hall

A part of me wonders why I am sharing all this. Why is my voice important here? I feel like I have very little to add to the already busy conversation at hand, but then I think there’s something great about simply sharing a piece of art. I hope there’s someone who reads this and has never listened to the album, or the rest of the band’s discography, and will go and give it a listen. Just that one small victory means another person can understand the importance of art in times like these. One person can make a huge difference, even when they feel like they can’t.

Photo by Sonja Horsman

Halfway through the third song on the album we hear a voice. Her name is Michelle Fiedler Fuentes and translated from Spanish, she gives a message. I will end my post with it.

raindrops cast in lead

our side lit up

then put out and buried and extinguished

underneath the perfect sun

underneath the body falling from the sky

they were martyrs falling

because on our side they were martyrs since before we were even born

the women who tried and were killed for trying

the women who died young, furious, or old, and never saw the sunrise

innocents and children and the tiny bodies that laughed, and were put to sleep forever

and never saw the beauty of the sunrise.

Thank you for reading.