The Ascension
by Glenn Branca
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Glenn Branca bestography
The Ascension is ranked as the best album by Glenn Branca.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to The Ascension on YouTube
The Ascension track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Ascension rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 |  arthurbittencourt | Top 99 Music Albums of the 1980s | 92/99 | 2 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Favorite Albums 500-401 | 15/100 | - |
| 2026 | pjerske | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s | 20/100 | 16 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 96/100 | 0 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 38/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | Untitled | Top 25 Music Albums of 1981 | 16/25 | 2 |
| 2026 | joathome | Top 41 Music Albums of 1981 | 40/41 | 0 |
| 2026 | mttr-in-plc | Top 99 Greatest Music Albums | 72/99 | 28 |
| 2026 |  JoaoMoreira | Top 49 Music Albums of the 1980s | 31/49 | 8 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 100 Music Albums of 1981 | 14/100 | 4 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 218 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,552 | |||
The Ascension collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 42 members
The Ascension ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 217 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/04/2026 19:48 |  AfterHours | 836 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/23/2026 23:18 | xhitmanx | 1,573 | 75/100 |
| ! | 06/05/2026 18:33 | pago82 | 3,227 | 71/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.8/100, a mean average of 77.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.9.
The Ascension favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 31 members
Forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/12/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5371): By seb7
dihansse 09/23/2025 20:09 in My discoveries per year
albummaster 09/14/2025 20:38 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)The Ascension comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)
Fascinating and spellbinding instrumental music. I haven't listened to a lot of Swans, but I can hear their origins in the pounding drone-grooves that these compositions frequently settle into. All in all, this is a powerful listen, but I honestly can't see myself returning to it.
Edit: I returned to it (Edited)
seb7 06/16/2021 16:14 | #270715
If you listen to this, then listen to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the influence is extremely apparent.
What an enthralling listen. If you are into noise or no wave, this is a must. I don't even know what else to say, just WOW. Really good.
Jbalbinolr 05/03/2021 00:18 | #269288 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A modern masterpiece. Rock? Classical? it's both and none at the same time. The 9th Sysmphony for the Gen X. (Edited)
NoeSSS 06/19/2016 01:10 | #169097
Swans did a better cover of Lesson No 2 (Edited)
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