Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

From Mercury TOP 100 COMMENTER 11/09/2013 19:09 | #91484 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I think that my vocabulary is not sufficient to convey what this album illustrates in my mind. Its an epic affair. I feel like when I really give in and immerse myself in this record I am sort of confronting and feeling some concept as big as civilization itself. It feel at times like the beginning of humanity and at times, the end of it.

Yeah, I am indeed having a hard time describing this. It has lots of parts, some spoken word, some classical soundin' stuff, some noisy stuff, some punky stuff, and just lots of cool as hell stuff. And all this stuff adds up to a great and cohesive and mesmerizing peice of art. The end. (Edited)

From babyBlueSedan TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/19/2014 05:39 | #117059 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I'm starting to get addicted to this...I think it could be in my top 10 soon...if not number 1...

The thing I like best about this is that as calculated as it is, as methodical as every guitar prick and drum beat is, there's still tons of imperfections present. The soft-buildup-crescendo-loud dynamic is fairly formulaic, but it works here because of how they pull them off. In Sleep it's not just a buildup, or a crescendo, but a smorgasbord of horns and all kinds of instruments. From the opening note until the peak there's a constant sound that's holding your attention. In Static it threatens to explode...and then doesn't. Even after three or four listens I still expected the guitars to get louder at that one part (too lazy and tired to look up when it is). By the time the final movement roles around it's as if the musicians know we're onto them. After several minutes of droning and in near silence, it just gets louder, no buildup, no warning. And there's no set mood given off (except for the beginning of Storm, that part's pretty triumphant). Post rock that gives off a creepy or dark vibe is sometimes fun, but music that leaves the mood to the listener tends to work more often.

Scaruffi complains that the spoken word parts and interludes seem to have no purpose, and he's right. But why does that matter? You're in a desert of noise, you start to hear voices, and what do they say? They tell you not listen to the people trying to wash your windows. There's such a sense of mystery there that it really draws you in and makes you think. The second spoken word part is genius - like I said earlier, the mood of the album typically feels neutral, but as you hear the speaker say "and when you see the face of God you will die" chills run down your spine, no matter how the music previously made you feel. Sometimes when bands throw in spoken parts they seems like they're trying too hard to shock you *cough* Swans *cough* In this case you're flying through an ocean of noise, trying to get back to reality, but all you can catch are little glimpses of people's thoughts as you fly by.

I don't think any of that made any sense. TLDR, it's a great album that demands more attention than many instrumental pieces. I hate the word epic, because this is not striving to be grand or entrancing, it's striving to make you feel. (Edited)

From Mother Nature's Son TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/12/2013 18:31 | #85779 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Still can't decide if this deserves to go on my overall chart or not. It's so goddamn epic, but my brain is still stuck at simple Beatles compositions!

Okay, after months on BEA, I finally gave this one a listen. And holy crap guys, why did no one force me to listen to this brilliant album sooner?! (Edited)

From koner1 TOP 100 COMMENTER 12/02/2014 03:08 | #128469 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I won't rest until this album is ranked higher than Parachutes. (Edited)