LP is pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl at Optimal (Germany) and comes in a heavyweight jacket with black poly-lined audiophile dust sleeve, credit insert, pull-out art poster and download code for 320 kbps MP3 copy of the album.
CD comes in a custom gatefold jacket printed on thick 24pt. paperboard with a printed CD dust sleeve.
Release date: 21 January 2014
1. FUCK OFF GET FREE (FOR THE ISLAND OF MONTRÉAL)
2. AUSTERITY BLUES
3. TAKE AWAY THESE EARLY GRAVE BLUES
4. LITTLE ONES RUN
5. WHAT WE LOVED WAS NOT ENOUGH
6. RAINS THRU THE ROOF AT THEE GRANDE BALLROOM (FOR CAPITAL STEEZ)
Running time: 00:49:17
LP is pressed on 180 gram virgin vinyl at Optimal (Germany) and comes in a heavyweight jacket with black poly-lined audiophile dust sleeve, credit insert, pull-out art poster and download code for 320 kbps MP3 copy of the album.
CD comes in a custom gatefold jacket printed on thick 24pt. paperboard with a printed CD dust sleeve.
"[SMZ] sound more vital and musical than ever. Only shared feelings of helplessness and powerlessness fueled by equal measures of desperation and hope could summon an anger focused enough to create art such as this. In this band's collective heart, rock & roll is still a force reckoned with personally and politically." – All Music Guide
"A fierce burst of intricacy, passion and punk urgency." – Rock-A-Rolla (cover feature)
"Over a swelling symphony of guitars marked by spastic, lingering riffs, [on "'Take Away These Early Grave Blues'] frontman Efrim Menuck eerily wails to 'let them sing on', a line that plays out as both an anthemic call to action and an absolute condemnation over the sea of blitzing dissonance. While the band’s fury seems as if it could build and build into eternity, it eventually breaks down into a cascade of atmospheric feedback, which only makes its short and violent lifespan burn that much brighter." – Consequence of Sound
"Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is a very different beast than the Polaris-winning band from which they spun off, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. In fact, through the heaviness and mantra-like shouts, this latest song 'Take Away These Early Grave Blues' sounds more like Swans’ The Seer than Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!. It’s an immediate and propulsive piece of music where the word 'post rock' never crosses your mind once — this is punk as all hell." – Stereogum
"Age and time haven’t withered the power of Thee Silver Mt. Zion; if anything, this five-piece incarnation of the band has distilled all that free-jazz/post-rock/orchestral/folk/punk/metal influence into a record that’s the best work the Canadians have produced to date. In a world where little seems to change for the better, Menuck’s anger is more vital and relevant than ever." – The Line Of Best Fit
"Harnessing the relentless roar of an underdog army. While often similarly majestic [to GY!BE] SMZ adopt a more vocal form of protest as they channel punk, rock and folk forms into epic petrol bomb songs, wall-of-sound clamour and tear-stained revolutionary ballads. Whether blasting barricades with tumultuous waves of drums, sawn strings and guitars or stumbling softly through the morning after ashes, this is a powerful collection of contemporary battle hymns that rings out like a well-needed musical call to arms for the 99 per cent." – MOJO
"The current lineup... gives the band's delivery more focus and allows it to move with greater stealth and mobility. Throughout the fifty-minute album, the band works up a glorious noise, with all five members contributing vocals, sometimes in the form of a collective chant, to the six songs... Theirs is not a music dragged down by defeat and surrender but one empowered by clear-headed hope and determination. As the group sings in the album's opening song, 'But there's fire in our dreams,' and we hope that said fire will long continue to burn." – Textura
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