By Andrew Bansal
Los Angeles progressive metal stalwarts Intronaut have come a long way since their 2006 debut EP ‘Null’, orchestrating an undeniable evolution of themselves as musicians from one album to the next and in the process also inspiring the next generation of prog lovers. A little over two years since their stellar, spellbinding 2013 effort ‘Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)’, Intronaut are about to release their fifth full-length studio album ‘The Direction Of Last Things’ via Century Media Records on November 13th, and as it could already be predicted, this new set of tunes presents a more developed and incisive Intronaut, but does so with a very recognizable sonic stamp and revisits some of the band’s older tendencies.
The 7-track effort constitutes a total duration of 46 minutes, as Intronaut drive their point across with much precision and no meandering. Right from the outset with the opening track ‘Fast Worms’, it is clear that the band has moved past the mellow, doomy sound that dominated the previous album and while retaining the melodic element, they’ve endeavored towards a decidedly more aggressive sound and an overall faster pace, which fans of the heavier variant of Intronaut’s music would greatly welcome. Tunes like ‘The Pleasant Surprise’, ‘City Hymnal’ and the title track expand further on this aspect of the album and retain the tone set by ‘Fast Worms’, while others such as ‘Digital Gerrymandering’, ‘The Unlikely Event Of A Water Landing’ and ‘Sul Ponticello’ bring out the progressive personality of the band’s musicianship through the arrangements and transitions within each of them. That said, the proggy nature of Intronaut decorates the entire album and even in the faster tunes, infuses slower, mellow segments to further enhance the impact of the heavy passages.
But above all, the most striking feature of the album is its crystal clear output in spite of the sheer range and complexity of each layer that contributes to the overall sound. The clean guitar parts are just as powerful as the distorted riffs, and a similar balance is attained between the soaring clean vocals and death metal-type screams/growls. The songwriting prowess of this band is undisputedly second to none, but as has been the trend throughout their career, they’ve outdone their previous efforts with the newest one. Performance-wise, guitarist/vocalist Sacha Dunable has delved deep to emerge with that extra ounce of prowess and passion to full justice to the potential of these compositions, as has Dave Timnick on the the other guitar and additional vocals, and with the most skilled rhythm section in all of heavy music in the form of Joe Lester on bass and Danny Walker on drums, Intronaut have succeeded in creating a modern-day masterpiece.
At this point of their career, until their next effort, ‘The Directions Of Last Things’ is the pinnacle of Intronaut’s creativity, and sets the benchmark for progressive music for the foreseeable future. Utterly and brilliantly flawless.
Rating: 9.5/10
Record Label: Century Media
Release Date: November 13th 2015
Track Listing:
01. Fast Worms
02. Digital Gerrymandering
03. The Pleasant Surprise
04. The Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
05. Sul Ponticello
06. The Direction of Last Things
07. City Hymnal
Intronaut links: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
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