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God Is An Astronaut - Far From Refuge CD (album) cover

FAR FROM REFUGE

God Is An Astronaut

Post Rock/Math rock

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badpit
5 stars first of all I am astonished that only a few people gave reviews to this great band from ireland. I know God Is An Astronaut only for 6 weeks, but from this time on I am addicted to their music. all their 3 albums are on the same high level same as the ep from 2006.

God Is An Astronaut sounds sometimes like explosions in the sky or like some instrumental parts from porcupine tree (untitled, buying new soul). Far from Refuge is to my opinion the best album from GIAA and it is my 2007 favourite album beside Fear of a blank planet from Porcupine Tree and Night from Gazpacho.

I prefer to hear Far From Refuge from the end to the beginning and I like the optimistic, melancholic atmosphere and the different moments GIAA music affects my heart. For me the whole album is close to perfect, but my favourite songs are: Far from Refuge, New Year's end and Beyond the dying lights.

Report this review (#136641)
Posted Thursday, September 6, 2007 | Review Permalink
Prog-jester
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars There are bands that play good music but it’s hardly moving. I mean it may sound too sterile or too predictable. These words are frequently used when it comes to most of Post-Rock, and I’m afraid, I can use them towards GIAA as well. Don’t get me wrong, they’re flawless, but too flawless for me. They didn’t get me emotionally, though I enjoy some stuff from this particular album (and some others). Hard to tell you which tracks exactly – you’d be a die-hard GIAA fan to learn all their tracks’ titles and to learn how to tell them one from another (just joking here ;) ). Good instrumental Indie, with some electronics, well-written melodic lines and atmospheric bits. This is where it comes to personal likings: I won’t recommend them to a Post-Rock newbie, while others may find them to be the only listenable Post-Rock band. Worth checking to say the least!
Report this review (#145430)
Posted Wednesday, October 17, 2007 | Review Permalink
digdug
4 stars This is still good stuff! If you are unfamiliar with the band, I would start with the excellent 'All Is Violent, All is Bright' album. This one continues along in a fairly similar way. The keyboards don't dominate quite as much here as on that album. Here, the guitar is stronger. Also, the drums sounds more 'traditional' to me. I thought I detected a drum machine in parts of the previous one. I have not heard GIAA's first album yet, but I will definitely acquire it sometime in the near future. These guys fit right into the more accessible section of the post-rock genre. But, they still have their own recognizable feel to their music. If you like Post-Rock you should check them out.
Report this review (#181404)
Posted Monday, September 1, 2008 | Review Permalink
thesleeper72
5 stars God is an Astronaut's third album definitely leans to the "rock" side of post-rock. This is not to say that they have completely abandoned their classic spacey sound. The drums seem to be more prominent and the guitar has more of a voice as well, yet they never resort to the generic power chords to get their point across.

Two personal favorites of mine are the title track and Grace Descending. The former starts off in the traditional GIAA format but its surprise comes at the end when it unexpectedly uses a distorted guitar for rhythm. While this is unexpected, it is a delightful surprise. Grace Descending starts off with a piano riff that continues to build into a great climax. All the other songs on here are fantastic as well. Songs such as Tempus Horizon, New Year's End and Beyond the Dying Light showcase the style GIAA is well-known for. Radau and Sunrise in Aries have a slight 90's rock feel to them. A unique little surprise comes in the transitional song Lateral Noise. Essentially, the song is mostly strange electronic noises yet at the end, the song gives a very apocalyptic feeling not out of place of The End of the Beginning.

This album is good for getting people into the group should they be interested (as well as AIV, AIB). However, if one does not like this group, this album is not going to change their mind.

Report this review (#483946)
Posted Saturday, July 16, 2011 | Review Permalink
Warthur
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Despite the rather bleak cover artwork, God Is an Astronaut's Far From Refuge doesn't exclusively occupy the sort of bleak, post-apocalyptic territory of much post-rock. In fact, there's points on the album where the music sounds downright cheerful. The band distinguish themselves from the post-rock crowd on this one by focusing less on spacey soundscapes and more on tuneful musicanship, with faster and busier compositions than are typical on the post-rock scene. As such, they manage to produce an album which will appeal to those who enjoyed their preceding work whilst at the same time developing their sound enough that the album doesn't feel redundant.
Report this review (#723292)
Posted Thursday, April 12, 2012 | Review Permalink

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