God Is an Astronaut
The End of the Beginning

4.0
excellent

Review

by Nick Mongiardo USER (137 Reviews)
May 8th, 2014 | 49 replies

Release Date: 2002 | Tracklist

Review Summary: An epic debut that expertly combines space rock and post rock.

Before they developed into the band we all know today, god was a very different astronaut. Instead of a sound that embodies the traditional post rock leanings with swelling crescendos, God is an Astronaut’s debut possessed a post rock sound that was skillfully combined with space rock. The End of the Beginning happens to be bathed in numerous amounts of synthesizers and features a notably different drumming sound. Even though the characteristics of post rock are all here, the synthesizers and various other effects create vast walls of sound in every song which changes the album’s sound into more of a space rock one. This makes for a more interesting affair compared to some of their later works and those who only know of Origins and their self-titled album are in for quite a ride.

The title track of The End of the Beginning immediately signifies a different type of mood with its hip hop rhythms, euphoric guitar riffs and extra layer of synthesizers providing a soaring wall of sound often found in shoegaze. It creates the sensation of flying through space if the listeners close their eyes and this epitomizes the general vibe of the album pretty well. The title track starts off the album with more of a song like structure and then “From Dust to the Beyond” introduces us to the epic builds and beautiful crescendos that God is an Astronaut is known for. The added layers of synthesizers and overall space rock feel gives the song an epic sound that separates it from their later works respectively. “Ascend to Oblivion” also demonstrates the same type of epic mood, but album highlight “Coda” is where the album really shines. It features one of the best choruses the band has ever created with its compelling drumming and soaring spacey mood. All of these fantastic qualities mentioned here carry throughout most of the album and it remains surprisingly consistent. Even though this album happens to be one of their most creative efforts, the album does run out of steam as we get to the final tracks.

“Coma” proves to be extremely mesmerizing with its swelling synthesizers and beautiful chimes, but it’s a disappointingly short interlude that could have been expanded upon. However, the evidence of running out of ideas to work with really shows in “Route 666.” The song does provide some more engrossing percussion as usual, but in terms of other instrumentation the song really doesn’t go anywhere nor does it provide any notable crescendo. The same can be said for “Lost Symphony” because much like “Route 666,” it exhibits ideas we’ve all heard about thirty minutes ago. The band heavily addressed this problem with their sophomore masterpiece, but it exists as a running problem on their much later works unfortunately.

Despite the album running out of ideas in its final three tracks The End of the Beginning is a very engrossing and varied debut for God is an Astronaut. It showcases some really memorable moments like the touching guitar work in “Point Pleasant” and pretty much the album’s entire first half. This album serves as a fantastic starting point for the band because it will really show the listener how the band will evolve to create the essential post rock album known as All is Violent, All is Bright. Even though the band has clearly run out of ideas in their later works, it’s just nice to know that everyone can always come back to when all of the band’s creativity was at their disposal.

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