God Is An Astronaut – “The Beginning of the End” Review

I am staying this time in my country to review the latest release of one of the most complex bands in Irish scene; God Is An Astronaut. A band who technically doesn’t belong in the metal genre, yet their music resonates in some way with the metal audience.

In order to understand this connection as well as the mindset to re-create and release “The Beginning Of The End” I joined D Metal Galaxyhttps://youtu.be/JbgCTokyAhg where Torsten Kinsella, the man behind God Is An Astronaut was a special guest. The interview had also an interesting angle as Jamie Dean, the keyboardist and guitarist, who started out as a fan joined the interview as well.

Thanks to this interview I learned a lot of secrets behind God Is An Astronaut latest release and what their music is all about. For this reason, I am going to discuss the following topics in the review: re-releasing the album, music, themes, video and summary. Please note this is the first I am actually listening to a post-rock band and a band without any vocals.

Re-releasing the album

The whole idea of “The Beginning of the End” came forth from pandemic time. There were no gigs and the band thought a live album would be a good substitution as it would deliver a live experience without being “live”. As a result, the song structure and music was adjusted to fit the live setting. Moreover, it was an interesting project for the band as well, because they could experience how their older material sounds like with their current sound which is much more live based.

The album that was chosen for re-interpretation was “The end of the beginning”. It was a special album for the band, due to the fact the band was at time an electronic studio project between Niels and Torsten. Also, it was the album where the band was thinking of stopping completely. In the end they made a breakthrough and became the band we all know today.

”THE BEGINNING OF THE END IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT INTERPRATION THAN THE ORIGINAL“

Music

The musical re-interpretation of “The end of the beginning” is quite an interesting one as it greatly differs from the original. Torsten mentioned in the interview they both have different interpretations and experiences. I totally agree with this, both albums set a different tone. “The Beginning of the End” is much more organic and gives you the feeling of being at the live concert, whereas “The end of the beginning” is much more a studio album focussing more on the instruments and musical capabilities rather than the live experience.

As a consequence, it is hard to say which is my favorite one. Each album delivers a different listening experience as well as atmosphere, but I have to say I am much more leaning towards the newest release. First of all musical productions have greatly evolved during twenty years, but also the band members themselves have learned a lot throughout the years such as bringing their own personality into the music.

In general

If we look at the music in general of “The Beginning of the End” it is quite deceiving. At first sight “God Is An Astronaut” seems to be perfect. Everything seems to be in place, the instruments, the melodic shifts and so on seems to be fine tuned. However, if you look closer the album is full of imperfections. This means there are a lot of mistakes by the musicians themselves. The reason behind this is to make the album much more organic and alive.

A very clever and intriguing strategy according to me. I normally do not listen to bands without any vocals, but this album got me hooked straight away as I felt I was there watching God Is An Astronaut performing this album live. I’ve also felt all the emotions that came with the music. Apart from this, music wise it is something I have not heard ever before.

”THE BEGINNING OF THE END IS FULL OF MUSICAL IMPERFECTIONS“

Themes

Another thing that is quite deceiving are the themes that “God Is An Astronaut” handles. At the beginning when you start listening to the music and see the CD cover you expect something soft. However, nothing is true.

The music is quite dark and broody. It deals with all dark things in life such as death, loss of war, the supernatural, depression, suicide and dread. Apart from this the album specifically references ”dark events” at the time before the year of 2000. For example, the end of beginning song hooks into the apocalyptic culture of 2000 where people were thinking the whole world is going to end. Another example is the anti-war song “From Dust to Beyond” which is a response to the Gulf War.

There are some lighter songs as well like Route 666 which was influenced by a TV show where a preacher is selling his green prosperity handkerchief. However, for this song footage was used from “The Devil Rides out“ which is a horror movie.

Coda

As a result, the “The Beginning of the End” is quite dark and broody with a few lighter songs to lighten the mood in order to digest everything a bit. According to Torsten they write music when they are not in a good mood and in a depressed state. At that time the feelings and thought they had connected to war itself and turmoil of what was happening around 2000. A song that interestly connects with this theme is Coda. The song is all about escaping to a safe place of imagination.

My take

I love the theme approach as it is so in contrast with the music. As I have mentioned earlier the music is quite soft and combining this with dark and broody topics is a match in heaven. Firstly, the music sets an atmosphere, the deeper you go into the album the more you are sucked into it. You start noticing emotions which come with it and along the way you’ll start absorbing all the emotions, bringing you basically into a melancholic mood. I believe this is the very reason why it connects well with the most extreme metal listeners; it connects with our darkest feelings without making any compromises, just demonstrating the brutal reality of life. Most interestly, it tells the theme just by musical instruments, drawing you even more into the music as it is something you haven’t heard before.

”GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT MAKES AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION NO OTHER BAND HAS DONE EVER BEFORE“

Videos

“The Beginning of the End” is accompanied by three videos From Dust to the Beyond, Route 666 and Coda Live. All videos bear a lot of similarities with others. The colors black and white are solely used and fit greatly the tempo of the music. Each video also brings the emotion across from the particular song.

As a result, the videos enhance the whole listening experience even more and connect you emotionally even deeper.

Summary

“The Beginning of the End” is a superb album delivering a unique listening experience. Without replacing the original one “The end of the beginning” it interprets and brings emotions across in a way you have never experienced. To enhance all of this it comes with great videos which make the emotional connection even deeper.

The cherry on top of the cake are the themes which are in sharp contrast with the music. Due to the sharp contrast between the dark and broody topics it sucks you into the album and creates an unknown emotional connection with you, the listener.

I agree it might be a bit too much for the mainstream listener to understand what the album is all about or handle this emotional connection, but for those who are willing to take their time and absorb the music it will definitely leave a mark in some way.

”GOD IS AN ASTRONAUT IS THE MOST EMOTIONAL BAND AROUND“

MAIr