PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Intronaut scale the heights and plant their flag firmly at the summit of Progressive Metal.
So here we go, it’s been what seems like aeons since ‘Valley Of Smoke’ hit the ground running back in 2010 but now Los Angeles post-prog supremos Intronaut are poised to unveil what surely must be their finest body of work to date.
The first point to note in my opinion is how ’grown up’ this album sounds, having a really finely tuned and honed finish it just screams ’professional’. That’s not to say that the core sound and attitude of the band has greatly changed or veered from its course, far from it, suffice to say that the guys are enjoying a real purple patch of musical and artistic development right now which must be applauded.
If your going to give this album a listen, and I certainly hope that you do, make sure you lock yourself in a darkened room, banish all thoughts of the outside world, slip those headphones on and drift away on a tide of ambient and trance like songs. Musical creations such as ’Harmonomicon’ are truly inspiring and motivational in their construction, the vocal delivery of Sacha Dunable is packed with such passion and feeling that I found it hard not to be moved, balance that alongside some sublime bass guitar work from Joe Lester and this has quality stamped all over it.
As an overall package Intronaut have crammed in just under an hours worth of material, which in itself is pretty impressive, however, to my ears, this deserves and demands to be listened to purely on a track by track basis. Album closer ’The Way Down’ is a case in point, so complex and varied that it took me a fair few listens to get anywhere near being able to unravel and fully absorb everything that the track was offering me. All four musicians in perfect harmony, the guitar work of Dave Timnick and Sascha driven by the complex bass lines of Joe and the thundering, almost tribal drumming of Danny Walker make this a truly stunning and unforgettable piece of music. Not that it ends there mind, oh no, for then your senses are torn apart and cast to the winds as we journey into a mesmeric, frightening, disturbing and captivating passage of electronic noise that becomes almost heartbeat like in its mood before returning to the realms of mankind with a scream.
Treading water and remaining static does not seem to enter the vocabulary of this band, each song is bursting with innovative, forward reaching and thought provoking music of the highest order. If there is any justice in this crazy world, then this album will catapault Intronaut to the escalons of Metal, I implore you not to be put off by that somewhat annoying tag of ’post progressive’, a tag which I too am guilty of using but instead to see this as an opportunity to seize upon one of the finest examples of how to compose music rather than bash it out that you will experience for quite some time to come. A real ’must have’ record.
Rating 10/10.
Track Listing;
1. Killing Birds With Stones.
2. The Welding.
3. Steps.
4. Sore Sight For Eyes.
5. Milk Leg.
6. Harmonomicon.
7. Eventual.
8. Blood From A Stone.
9. The Way Down.
Intronaut are;
Sascha Dunable – Vocals and Guitar.
Joe Lester – Bass.
Dave Timnick – Guitar, Vocals and Percussion.
Danny Walker – Drums.
Habitual Levitations sees its European release on the 18th of March through Century Media Records.
http://www.facebook.com/Intronaut?ref=ts&fref=ts
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJEW2PHyspE&w=560&h=315]
