So what do you do when you make an unfailingly beautiful record like Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, and then try and follow it? Godspeed have reached the OK Computer syndrome, trying to follow what is universally accepted as near-perfect, groundbreaking work. This album is a distinct departure from the band's previous work, despite all the comments of a homogenous sound. Yanqui glistens with the feel of more than its nine players, creeping out of the woodwork like a full orchestra. There are no samples, and no drone interludes connecting the larger passages. Instead, the compositions are more ambitious, the notes more dissonant. This album is not about simple relief and beauty. Godspeed are more unsettled than ever (if thats possible) and their progressions have far less of the easy relief of past work. The payoff is unimaginably powerful. This album is to be read like novel, sat with and taken in. That could be said for all their work, and most Post-Rock, but it has NEVER been true like it is now. All that, and the glorious "Motherfucker=Redeemer," which comprises tracks 4 and 5, could be the best work this band has ever done. In a very real sense, it was all leading here. … Expand

Great album. Their best hands down.

Unsettling at first, but wonderful in the end. This is one of the more important bands of this decade. Buy this one or any of their previous albums, for that matter.

theres just something about this album that makes it very different from their previous works. i really dont know whether i think this is their best or their worst release...... and i think that perhaps that is a good thing....... ???

More ragged, intimate and raw than the grandiose Skinny Fists, probably due to the involvement of Mr Albini no doubt, GYBE haven't necessarily moved forward creatively. But it's still filled with enough ear splitting, jaw-dropping moments of beauty (and horror!) to re-inforce their standing as one of the most important bands around at the moment. Fantastic stuff.

while i would have liked to hear the voice sample and explosions of noise from Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven, i still find Yanqui U.X.O. to be a very exciting listen. Overall there is more actual music and less of the ambient noise passages from skinny fists. I would highly recommend motherfucker=redeemer. This track could just possibly be the future of the band.

Like a pretentious drama student who is so tragically punk rock, he has painted himself into a corner of mediocrity... yeah, you're so unique - get over it and smile and anarchy, yeah.

Though I've become quite a big GYBE! fan, this album is a bit of a letdown; Steve Albini's production is incredibly muddy (though I must say, I've never been a fan of any of his production work), as the drums are almost completely buried in the mix most of the time, and guitars overlap almost TOO much, even for Godspeed. Even more disappointingly, GYBE! have decided to lay their famous monologue sound samples to rest for this CD -- Though this puts the music in the spotlight much moreso than on previous efforts, there is something lacking from the lack of noise segues and spoken word passages. On a positive note, the ratio of actual music to noise passages is much greater; I find myself fast forwarding through most of the Dead Flag Blues and Providence from their F#A#oo release because there is so little orchestration -- This release is much more punctual than Skinny Fists or F#A#oo, but not nearly as to the point as the Slow Riot EP (or as spectacular for that matter), and the songwriting is fairly anticlimactic in comparison to most of their past works. My personal recommendation for any listener who wants to thoroughly enjoy GYBE! in a succinct, to-the-point setting is the Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP -- This disc virtually defines what post-rock should be (and though I hate using "should," I just wish all their music were as engaging as Moya, BBF3, or even the Sad Mafioso from F#A#oo or Monheim from Skinny Fists).… Expand

I cannot with any kind of self integrity, rate this any higher. While they did make a good album to say this is better or even as good as their previous works would be complete bullocks. There is one thing missing through out this entire album and that is the small vessel of hope swimming in their sea of sorrow. While this album goe in a different direction, (which is always good) it is not nearly as experimental as "Lift Your Skinny Fingers..." or others. It's the smeared sounds and haunting arrangement that make them one of the best ensembles in the history of music. Which is the very thing that never materializes in this effort.… Expand

I have only just found this band via Aural Moon; stunning, ethereal, challenging. Loved Motherfucker=Redeemer.

It doesn't show the balls-out part of Godspeed, like their first two albums, but it shows them in the mode of craftsmen. This doesn't mean the album sounds safe and comfortable, though, far from it. If anything, it feels kind of like a continuation of the last passages of "Antennas To Heaven" in a more rock form, but with the unsettling feelings of old gloom long since forgotten with a hint of wistful twilight in some sections nonetheless. The group is as martial and rousing as ever, and the album is nearly as haunting as the most autumnal moments of "Lift Your Skinny Fists...", but perhaps this will fit as the final statement from the band, as I truly can't see where they can grow from here. They have certainly left three essential albums full of uncanny passion and dread like no band before or since them has replicated, and that is more of an achievement than prolific composing.… Expand

Among the greatest music ever recorded. Those into common music won't get it, but it's a post-rock masterpiece. Also it's all instrumental, which already filters out the mainstream listeners.

With my skinny little fist I say, "God Speed You Black Emperor!". This is the best album ever made by a real black emperor. Check it out homies. Though I am white, I feel you all the way to my skinny little fist