im looking for some good post rock similar to godspeed you! black emperor, red sparowes, silver mt zion, mogwai, etc.

any recommendations would be appreciated

God is an Astronaut is years ahead of any competition one can imagine. Some of the most intense brands of the genre I've ever heard. I can feel my heart beat faster as each song leads up to it's climax. They're nothing terribly innovative, but they execute the style so well it doesn't fucking matter.

I must also mention Sigur Ros, if only for the () album. Seriously, probably the greatest post rock album ever recorded.

Honorable mentions go to The Samuel Jackson Five for their Easily Misunderstood album and Gifts from Enola for their Loyal Eyes Betrayed the Mind album, two absolute masterpieces.

I'm more focused on guitar based post rock (as opposed to the slightly more orchestral GY!BE and ASMZ that you mentioned), so they may not be quite what you're after, but they're fantastic anyways.

Russian Circles and North are pretty good. They're less orchestral than the other bands and more along the lines of Isis, etc.

I'm not really into the bands you mentioned, but I do know a number of good all round post-rock bands that I'd recommend to any post-rock fan, regardless. Two bands, in particular, you should keep your eye on, New Zealand's Jakob who have three albums and Russia's Mooncake who have one album.

Other notable recommendations:

Cecilia Eyes, Daturah, Everything Is Made In China, If These Trees Can Talk, Irepress, Maserati, Mono, Saxon Shore, The Calm Blue Sea, Tunturia, World's End Girlfriend and Yndi Halda.

Also, as BastardHead said, Gifts From Enola are a truly amazing band with a spectacular album.

Yndi Halda definitely. I think of them as the more happy alternative to GY!BE.
Then Mono, The Seven Mile Journey, and This Will Destroy You.

GAH! I can't believe I forgot these two. Yes, Yndi Halda's Enjoy Eternal Bliss is like a positive alternative to GY!BE. TWDY is great, but I find that a lot of post rockers (really... are metalheads the only fans that have their own name? What do we call these people? Postheads?) claim TWDY to be the greatest thing to happen this year, and I find that to be a gross exaggeration, but fantastic nonetheless.

I thought that said 'potheads'. I was thinking, "Well, don't we already have that group?"

TWDY never really caught my attention.

I second Jakob and God Is An Astronaut.

GIAA's album "All Is Violent, All Is Bright" is probably my favourite post-rock album.

Explosions in the Sky's All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone is also an excellent album.

A post-rock thread! Good recommendations, everyone. Lots of stuff that I would have mentioned.

Here are a few recommendations:

Caspian: You Are The Conductor, The Four Trees

Final Days Society: Noise Passes, Silence Remains

HitchcockGoHome: You Cannot Be Serious

WakeThisDay: Gaze Into The Beyond

UpcDownCLeftCRightCABC+Start: Embers

Also, if anyone has yet to listen to God Is An Astronaut's latest album, God Is An Astronaut (2008), be sure to do so. More quality music from this Irish three piece.

if you are into epic post rock, then you should give The Winchester Club from London a try. They have a last.fm player on their MySapce site which plays all songs in full length.
http://www.myspace.com/winchesterclub

I need to check a few of these out ... Also, how could I forget ...Of Sinking Ships are pretty darn good.

Some lesser known post-rock bands that I enjoy include Joy Wants Eternity, The American Dollar, Parhelia, and Moonlit Sailor, among many others.

Caspian, Yindi Halda and ASCENT OF EVEREST, they are quite unknown but incredible.

Good to see lots of Yndi Halda love - I used to live with James (main songwriter) and he played drums on the first Caina demo. Great band. I like Mew for more song based post-rock. Also try Grouper and JackieOMotherfucker.

Sleepmakeswaves is a damn talented and young band from Australia. They have one demo and an EP out and more should be coming in '09.
Beast, Please Be Still is really good too (strange instruments, and usage of instruments here), and so is Maybeshewill. All more guitar-based though.

And I wholeheartly second God Is an Astronaut. Some of the best PR out there.

*Gouges own eyeballs out*

I have only heard their And the Glass Handed Kites album, and after listening to it several times (and trying to like it), I decided that I absolutely hated it. How is their early material in comparison to Glass Handed Kites?

The Appleseed Cast - Low Level Owl Volume 1 & 2 are spectacular.
Red Leaves are decent. I know more post-metal than I do the rock side of things, but big hell yeah to whoever mentioned Sigur Ros. THAT is baby making music! Good post metal bands (and obvious ones, at that)
Intronaut, Cult Of Luna, Mouth of the Architect, Isis, newer Neurosis, riseTHYruin.

I definitely second Mono. That's some incredible post-rock, somewhat alike to Godspeed in the sense of having massive build-ups and a distictive atmosphere. Japanese band. Explosions In The Sky is very essential, and recommended.

Some different bands that are considered post-rock that may be worth trying out:
65daysofstatic: post-rock with lots of electronica influences, including electronic ambience and even beats (on top of actual drums, even). Still, they have an awesome rock band feel to their music. If you like them, I recommend checking out Maybeshewill aswell.

iLiKETRAiNS: rather melancholic post-rock with baritone vocals. Personally I'd like them more if they were instrumental, but they're worth checking out, certainly.

Crippled Black Phoenix: I can't really say if this is post-rock, but it's often put into that category, and it's a band everyone should check out. Melancholic "world end ballads" (as the band itself described the music) and atmosphere and emotion topped by few. I've cried to some of their songs.

Have A Nice Life: often categorized as post-rock, they have influences from industrial, shoegaze and even drone. Since their music is hard to describe, why don't you just have a listen: http://www.last.fm/music/Have+A+Nice+Life/_/Bloodhail

Some other bands that I can't be arsed to write about: i hear sirens, Hammock, Do Make Say Think, Incandesce

I've known Alex from that band since before they even formed thanks to the internet. I've only heard two of their songs, but they were both great. I never downloaded the album because I promised I'd buy the EP and any other future releases directly from him to guarantee the funds... and I've just never gotten around to it.

He's also a huge black metal fan, so that influence seeps in (some songs have a Wolves in the Throne Room vibe to them).

Seconded, though IMO Mare Vitalis absolutely destroys both of them. Saw them on tour with Cursive when the first Volume came out. Sigur Ros were possibly the best band on the planet until they became David Attenborough's house band with Takk.

Here are some bands using violins and/or somewhat reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor:

MØN (later became Mon) - from France, I prefer their first demo under the name MØN to their Mon material. A violin, some orchestrations... good stuff.

kafabindünya - from Turkey, they only have a demo but it's great. They used a violin in one of their songs and it's good.

The Pirate Ship Quintet, they use a trombone, making the music epic sounding with a 'nostalgic' feel.

Magyar Posse, their latest album has some electronic influences (which I don't like) but their second album in particular is incredible.

The Evpatoria Report is another great band to check for less guitar-based stuff.

夢中夢 (Mutyumu), highly experimental with a lot of influences, including metal ones, and they even have a metal song with harsh vocals. They cite stuff like Emperor, Burzum, Evoken and Nortt as their influences.

Some other good bands: Anoice, Ocoai, Mono, Valley of the Giants, Sweek, The Ascent of Everest...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor all the way, one of my favourite bands of all time, listen to 'F# A# ∞' it's truly spectacular, even more apocalyptic and draconian than the darkest metal

Explosions in the Sky write music that's both beautiful and intense. I like them a great deal. Mono is also definitely worth listening to.

Definitely a great description of that album.
It has such a depressing feel to it... the spoken intro of The Dead Flag Blues sets the mood just perfectly..

Pretty much anything I could have recommended has been said but I have to recommend a specific album.

Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain by Mono & World's End Girlfriend is the single bleakest piece of music that I have ever come across. Truly beautiful in ways that I can't even begin to describe.

Pelican's The Fire In Our Throats Will Summon The Thaw is a great album.

While I certainly do love said Pelican album, I would have to say that its technically more on the post metal side than post rock but yeah, its worth checking out none the less.


Fuck yes, agreed. "The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place" is a great album.

I was going to recommend Pelicam but I wasn''t sure the genre was appropriate... Australasia is also well worth a listen..

Leave alone their last effort though.. while good in pieces it has a very patched together feel...

check out Mogwai too, the album 'Young Team' is great, and specifically the track 'Mogwai Fear Satan', its unreal!

I've always wondered what was the fuss about post-rock... I've never really heard anything. Where would be a good place to start? I've heard a few Pelican songs (they seem more metal?) but that's about it.

God Is an Astronaut is a good band to start. As a metalhead, Russian Circles might appeal to you too.

Man, how the FUCK could I forget to mention Giant Squid! Listen to their album 'Metridium Fields', it's Post-Rock which incorporates a lot of Doom Metal/Sludge sounds. The final track on that album is the most epic piece of music ever!!! Giant Squid FTW

I started with Explosions in the Sky and compilations from The Silent Ballet (those introduced me to God is an Astronaut, The Samuel Jackson Five, Gifts from Enola and some of my other favorites).

i recommend beirut to anyone that hasnt heard of them.

it kinda reminds me of sigur ros

I didn't mention Mogwai because they're pretty much the most known post-rock band ever.
But my favorite albums by them are Happy songs for Happy people and Mr. Beast.

...Also maybe because the OP mentioned them?

Everyone who thinks Yndi Halda is a good band is completely wrong, and in fact likes getting teabagged by horses.

I would totally second Tantalus' "Grouper" recommendation. More strange folk/dark ambient/shoegaze then post-rock, but totally mindblowing nonetheless.

Sigur Ros's () is probably the best post-rock album. Caspian isn't terribly amazing but they're still pretty cool and they have the same name as me, which is obviously commendable. Thisquietarmy and Destroyalldreamers are pretty excellent bands, kind of like a more down tempo Explosions in the Sky (another amazing band, but I certainly wouldn't call them "intense"). Mono are possibly the most cliched post-rock band ever but they nail the formula extremely well; hard to fault them really. This Empty Flow is a pretty early post-rock/shoegazey band that oddly enough was formed by some ex-Thergothon members; they're pretty cool.

I love post rock.

From oceans to autumn, Moving mountains, Ascent of Everest, Te', Ours to alibi, Caspian, Red sparowes.

When it comes to post rock, Godspeed You! Black Emperor is the only band that I listen to constantly. All other post rock bands sound similar to each other and none of them do it like Godspeed. I have checked out some of the recommendations like God is an Astronaut and Sigur Ros, and though they have their moments, it still has nothing on Godspeed. Godspeed make music that is very beautiful that can make you have this happy feeling, but they also make very dark, appocalyptic music at times. I don't know what it is, but there's just something about them...

Ok, I guess I'll just stop liking them right now because you said that. Thanks.