LIFT YOUR SKINNY FISTS LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN

Dang this is a good album. First off, I got this album because I really needed something new to listen to. I knew a bit what I was in for when I bought this. It's great stuff. As you probably already know, the music is orchestral and slowly builds and builds into an emotional climax, sometimes 3 or 4 times in a single one of these tracks. Of course, that's not very hard to do, since they all are around 20 minutes long. Each has a different subltle mood, often very atmospheric, but always pretty orchestral with lots of rock instrumentation.

I can't really say much about these tracks, as they are all pretty similar, though they are all fantastic and each one of the four stands out. Storm starts off with a quiet bit of trumpet, and everything builds on top of each other slowly for quite a while. Once everything climaxes, it's wonderfully grandiose, and you just feel breathtaken listening to it. Near the end of the track, things suddenly get more tense and everything turns minor and the tempo is unnerving. Things crash around, and soon all of it falls apart. You are treated to Cancer Towers at the very end, a simple outro driven mostly by haunting piano and nervous voices in the background.

Static, judging by its name, might not seem very musical. In fact, it does incorporate a lot of ambient noise towards the beginning as opposed to atmospheric music, but that's just fine. It sets the empty mood very well. It's main feature is a rather melancholy melody repeated quite a bit over a driving rhythm. Like the previous piece, things pick up near the end and build in an uneasy and chaotic ending. Once things drop out, you are treated to a bit more of ambient noise. This isn't one of my favorite tracks, but it definetely seems to portray the melancholic emptiness that GYBE is known for.

After a bit of dialogue in the beginning of the track is Sleep. Then some violin comes in, ever so lovely and minor keyed. Things pick up, and the most notable feature of the track comes in, a guitar drone that wavers between notes. My favorite part is when the drums take things to a really quick tempo, and the guitar drone seems to burst ou, joining the constant pace of the snare. The guitar drone continues on one note as all the instruments drop out, and you are treated to some great atmospheric and simple ambient music. Some glockenspiel brings out some of the mood more, and then some clean guitar comes in, developing the piece. Things really get more emotional when the drums come in again with a cymbal crash and crescendo over and over again. The drone comes back in again, and then fades away. Then an unexpected drum groove comes in, and the violin accompanies the whine once again. The surprise in this track is the up tempo drums towards the end of it.

The beginning of the final track, Antennas to Heaven, is a bit unusual compared to the other tracks. It begins with some actual singing, along with a guitar strumming along. A bit unusual compared to the dark and moody feel of the other music, but that slowly fades into some strange noises along with what sounds like some glockenspiels playing interesting and unusual melodies. After that comes one of the longer parts of beautiful atmospheric music, mostly violins, pianos, cellos, and chime sounds, and even some atmospheric noises in the background. This is definetely one of the most emotional points of the whole album. It continues, and really doesn't give a solid rythm for a while, only until about 10 minutes into the song until some drums actually play again. They drop out as soon as they come, and we are treated to more of the wonderful soundscape beauty for the remainder of the piece. One of my favorite parts are what sounds like echoed orchestral sounds, playing some of the most well put together chords I've ever seen, about 3/4 of the way through. A bit of clean and delayed guitar, some wonderful violin, and some feedback end the album

This album is full of great stuff. From the grandiose and epic beginning to the hauntingly beautiful ending, there is not much that I don't like about this album. I even love the repetition of themes and melodies that occur so often in this. Everything about the music occurs so subtlely. If you love atmospheric soundscapes and love instrumental music (well, almost), then I definetely would reccomend this album to you. It's good for getting into something new. I think I might get another one of Godspeed You Black Emperor's albums if the chance gets to me in a record store, because this is such a good experience listening to. Just excellent.