Luciferian Towers#Background

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:

• an end to foreign invasion
• an end to borders
• the total dismantling of the prison–industrial complex
• healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as an inalienable human right
• the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again{{cite web|url=http://faroutmagazine.co.uk/godspeed-you-black-emperor-to-release-new-album/|title=Godspeed You! Black Emperor to release new album|last=Thomas-Mason|first=Lee|work=Far Out Magazine|date=13 July 2017|accessdate=15 July 2017}}

{{Music ratings

| MC = 78/100{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/luciferian-towers/godspeed-you!-black-emperor|title=Reviews and Tracks for Luciferian Towers by Godspeed You! Black Emperor|publisher=CBS Interactive|accessdate=21 September 2015}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/luciferian-towers-mw0003097065|title=Luciferian Towers - Godspeed You! Black Emperor {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits|last=Simpson|first=Paul|publisher=All Media Network|date=22 September 2017|accessdate=21 September 2017}}

| rev2 = The A.V. Club

| rev2score = B+{{Cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/godspeed-you-black-emperor-looks-up-toward-hell-with-l-1818560010|title=Godspeed You! Black Emperor Looks Up Toward Hell with Luciferian Towers|last=Modell|first=Josh|website=The A.V. Club|publisher=Onion, Inc.|date=20 September 2017|accessdate=21 September 2017}}

| rev3 = Exclaim!

| rev3score = 9/10{{cite web|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/godspeed_you_black_emperor-luciferian_towers|title=Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers|website=Exclaim!|last=Khanna|first=Vish|date=September 22, 2017|access-date=June 21, 2025}}

| rev4 = Mojo

| rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}The sprawling Montreal ensemble [is] nback at their most spirited, their Weltschmerz poured into wordless music of soaring transcendence and, on occasion, fierce beauty. [Dec 2017, p.91]

| rev5 = musicOMH

| rev5score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/godspeed-black-emperor-luciferian-towers|title=Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers|website=musicOMH|last=Shepherd|first=Sam|date=22 September 2017|access-date=21 June 2025}}

| rev6 = Pitchfork

| rev6score = 7.3/10{{Cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/godspeed-you-black-emperor-luciferian-towers/|title=Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Luciferian Towers Album Review|last=Collins|first=Sean T.|publisher=Condé Nast|date=21 September 2017|accessdate=21 September 2017}}

| rev7 = Record Collector

| rev7score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/luciferian-towers|title=Luciferian Towers - Godspeed You! Black Emperor|website=Record Collector|last=Atkins|first=Jamie|date=9 October 2017|access-date=21 June 2025}}

| rev8 = Sputnikmusic

| rev8score = 4.5/5{{cite web|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/74859/Godspeed-You%21-Black-Emperor-Luciferian-Towers/|title=Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers|website=Sputnikmusic|last=Beanie|first=Owl|date=September 15, 2017|access-date=June 21, 2025}}

| rev9 = Uncut

| rev9score = {{rating|4|5}}The nine-piece evoke America's open spaces in a beautiful bluster of feedback and reverb. [Nov 2017, p.28]

| rev10 = The 405

| rev10score = 9.5/10{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925071430/https://www.thefourohfive.com/music/review/review-godspeed-you-black-emperor-once-again-prove-to-be-greater-than-the-sum-of-their-succinct-parts-on-the-almighty-luciferian-towers-150|title=Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor once again prove to be greater than the sum of their succinct parts on the almighty Luciferian Towers|website=The 405|last=Cyrs|first=Michael|date=25 September 2017|access-date=21 June 2025}}

}}

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.

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". 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."

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."{{Cite web|url=https://prettymuchamazing.com/reviews/godspeed-you-black-emperor-luciferian-towers|title=Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Luciferian Towers|last=Fowler|first=Luke|date=18 September 2017|accessdate=26 September 2017}}

{{Track listing

|total_length=44:04

|title1=Undoing a Luciferian Towers

|length1 = 7:47

|title2=Bosses Hang

|length2 = 14:45

|title3=Fam / Famine

|length3 = 6:44

|title4=Anthem for No State

|length4 = 14:48

}}

{{Track listing

|total_length=43:50

|title1=Undoing a Luciferian Towers

|length1 = 7:47

|title2=Bosses Hang, Pt. I

|length2 = 4:39

|title3=Bosses Hang, Pt. II

|length3 = 4:40

|title4=Bosses Hang, Pt. III

|length4 = 5:24

|title5=Fam / Famine

|length5 = 6:44

|title6=Anthem for No State, Pt. I

|length6 = 3:05

|title7=Anthem for No State, Pt. II

|length7 = 2:55

|title8=Anthem for No State, Pt. III

|length8 = 8:36

}}

• Thierry Amar – upright bass, bass guitar
• David Bryant – electric guitar, MG-1
• Aidan Girt – drums
• Timothy Herzog – drums
• Efrim Manuel Menuck – electric guitar, organ, OP-1
• Mike Moya – electric guitar
• Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
• Sophie Trudeau – violin, organ

• Bonnie Kane – saxophone, flute, electronics
• Craig Pedersen – trumpet

{{reflist}}

{{Godspeed You! Black Emperor}}

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Category:2017 albums

Category:Constellation Records (Canada) albums

Category:Godspeed You! Black Emperor albums

Category:Instrumental rock albums