God Is An Astronaut – Opium – Live Review – 22-10-22
by Killian Laher

God Is An Astronaut have been playing high-octane, instrumental rock for twenty years, and the four-piece are marking this with a series of shows.  Opium was packed out and full of anticipation for the visit of the Wicklow musicians.  The initial part of their set was dominated by last year’s Ghost Tapes #10 album, with Adrift’s metal styling wowing the crowd early on.

Halfway through the set, the band ramped up the intensity by taking the pace down a bit for the slow build of All Is Violent, All Is Bright, a track which took plenty of time to build into an explosive climax.  Suicide by Star again started pensively at first before building into choppy riffs.

It was an exhilarating set which left nobody disappointed.  The band have been single-handedly flying the flag for intelligent, instrumental guitar music for the last twenty years, and on this form are showing no signs of slowing down.