10 Best Instrumental Rock Albums Since 2000
1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
The record goes through many different transformations, featuring a myriad of shifting styles, instrumental variety and extreme mood transitions. If you thought opener ‘Storm’ was a victory for the human spirit, just wait for the dark overtures of ‘Static’ to kick in. It’s a deeply unsettling composition mainly due to an unholy juxtaposition of cello, sitar, and glockenspiel – an unlikely combination that provides some frightening moments of insanity before coming to a head for the incredibly turbulent finale.
That’s just the first side of the record too. On side-two the shrill theremin-tinged first half of ‘Sleep’ gives way in the second half to an almost shoegaze amalgamation that features some of the most traditional rock sounding elements on the album, while the fittingly epic conclusion of the record ‘Like Antennas To Heaven…’ attempts to combine all of what has come before it and succeeds in doing so, finishing off what is a monumental album in every respect.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor set a new standard in 2000 with this majestic beast of a record, a milestone in the instrumental rock scene that is still yet to be topped fifteen years later.