Godspeed You! Black Emperor
F# A# oo

It's difficult for me to review this "masterpiece" from the nine Canadians from Montreal... considering that the CD found refuge in my player and hasn't left it for at least 3 or 4 weeks.
Understanding a group like this isn't that easy, just like digesting and assimilating the music they offer us, but at the end of each listen to one of their tracks, something indelible remains, a feeling of anxiety, darkness, ominous foreboding... all sensations that are certainly not positive.
But there is always a glimmer of hope, because in the end anything is possible... and this is the message that GYBE! wants to bring to us.

By analyzing the album, it's easy to discern, right from the cover, that the atmosphere you will breathe will certainly not be crystalline nor joyful; in fact, this outcome could be used as the soundtrack of a silent film from the 1930s... and indeed the title was taken from an old black & white Japanese film.... like the second track "East Hastings" which was used in the soundtrack of 28 Days Later.
Indeed, listening to the music on this CD (even if the first release was only planned on vinyl) clearly gives an idea of what is about to happen; a message to humanity, a warning to the human race not to let hope fly away but to keep fighting.

The first track "The Dead Flag Blues" begins with strange noises and a deep voice probably speaking about the precarious condition of every human being, who is forced to live in chains and spit blood to continue hoping for a better world.
The musical art of GYBE! lies in wanting to convey through music, more than anything else, a message... this is their defining trait.
The track continuously rises, but it is difficult to describe, it must just be heard... like the following two tracks.
The most well-structured piece seems to be track no. 3 "Providence"... a medley of sounds, noises, and truly hallucinatory speech. It starts slowly, then it rises and quickly falls... anxiety and only anxiety.

You might be shocked... I was; very few records have left me in such a condition, this is one of them.
A general sense of confusion... like this review... but I'm writing it right while listening to the third track... helpoooooooooooo!!!!!