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Review Summary: Intronaut's first full-length albums proves they're a metal band to watch out for in the future. When it comes to modern American metal, it’s all about the east coast; gone are the days when California bands ranging from Motley Crue to Metallica were the biggest things in metal, now bands ranging from the northeast (Killswitch Engage, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Dream Theater) to the southeast (Mastodon, Trivium, BtBaM) have taken over and are making the some of the best music in the genre... but not so fast. Intronaut, formed in Los Angeles in 2004 by former members of the bands Anubis Rising and Uphill Battle, may be turning many people’s ears towards the Pacific very soon. Unlike fellow west coast band Agalloch, who hail from Portland, Intronaut’s music actually sounds like that of an American metal band, blending vicious hardcore with interesting progressive elements. Their full-length debut, Void, which follows their previously released EP, Null, combines the wild yet sludgy sound of early Mastodon , the throaty, guttural vocals standard in hardcore, and occasional ambience not unlike that which can be found on Kayo Dot albums.
It’s hard to not think of Kayo Dot as the album opener, “A Monolithic Vulgarity,” begins with cymbal crashes, a drum roll, and a wall of sound very similar to the beginning of “Marathon,” the opening track on their 2003 debut, Choirs of the Eye. Unlike “Marathon” however, this song does not calm down, but rather slowly builds to an explosion of thundering guitars and double bass kicks which are shortly followed by the harsh vocals of Sacha Dunable, kicking any idea of Kayo Dot temporarily out the window. The madness continues until the fifth minute when the song appears to be over, but instead of ending the bands breaks out into a minute-long jazzy jam with a very noticeable upright bass and ends the song the same way it started it, in a very Kayo Dot-esque way. Hot on its heels is “Gleamer,” which is one of the fastest and most consistently heavy songs on the album, filled to the brim with pinch harmonics, odd time signatures, and indecipherable growls.
“Fault Lines” starts with a minute of introspectiveness before the band once more starts playing music that might actually be an attempt to create and earthquake. The end of the song, which can only be described as sounding like a locomotive running down its rails, features some rather impressive bass work. It’s hardly the only time on the album that bassist Joe Lester is impressive, though; in fact he and drummer Danny Walker are easily the highlights of the album, creating complex rhythms of both a metallic and jazzy fashion. The next track, “Nostalgic Echo,” is another great example or their abilities, and is one of the better songs on the record. “Teledildonics” begins similarly to most of the music on the album, until halfway through when things calm down momentarily, making the monumentally heavy outro seem even more powerful by comparison.
Despite all of the necessary praise, it must be noted that there is also plenty of room for the band to grow and improve. For example, there aren’t any clean vocals or guitar solos on this album, not unlike early Meshuggah, and while some may argue that the music is better like that, it would be nice to see the band switch things up a bit more. That leads me into my only other gripe, which is that the band suffers from what I like to call “The Boston Syndrome,” meaning that their songs, though good, aren’t particularly distinguishable from one another, and in this case they do not hold up as well individually.
All of that said, the pros easily outweigh the cons; it is well performed and while it is not completely original, one can sense that this band is innovative enough to carve their own little niche in the metal world. This is a very impressive album for any metal band, let alone a debut; Intronaut is definitely a band to look out for.
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Album Rating: 4.0
http://myspace.com/intronaut
three of the tracks from this are on their myspaceThis Message Edited On 01.09.08
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Why are they listed as hard rock... genre must be corrected to metalcore!!!1
Great freaking CD though, I love this band so much.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
hard rock? I had it as progressive because I was in a rush, but never hard rock
and hey I was looking at your one band's myspace, are you from Allentown?This Message Edited On 01.09.08
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I'd just put this under metal. It has prog elements, but I wouldn't throw them in the same category with a lot of the bands that are in there.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
well The Ocean is in progressive, but yeah I know, so I changed it to metalcore, it just didn't show up on the homepage
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and hey I was looking at your one band's myspace, are you from Allentown?
Salisbury, which is right outside Allentown, so yeah.This Message Edited On 01.09.08
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Blegh, Mappy likes this band, so it must be bad.
All joking aside, I don't trust the description. Metalcore and progressive elements usually end up being generic -core with some keyboards attached. Anubis Gate aren't a bad band, but I don't have high hopes for this.
EDIT: Lmao no wonder I thought it was so weird that members of Anubis Gate were in this band. It's because they aren't...:lol:This Message Edited On 01.09.08
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They're post-metal
Their Null EP is much much better than Void
Also they're not "prog" and nothing about this album sounds like Kayo Dot in any way, everything Intronaut has ever done sounds like Isis or Callisto or any of the other thousands of post-metal bands
Jesus you people are retardedThis Message Edited On 01.09.08
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
they're not "prog"
Really? That's funny because their official website, their wikipedia page, and allmusic all say they play progressive metal, they can be found on progarchives.com, and post-metal is fairly progressive sounding itself... so excuse me for calling them prog (which I have changed to their secondary genre), Burton. Also, Kayo Dot can also fall under the category of post-metal, so call me crazy for hearing similarities.
on a lighter note Salisbury, which is right outside Allentown, so yeah.
I'm from Bethlehem myselfThis Message Edited On 01.09.08
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My friends' band got to play a show opening up for these guys and Yakuza. Intronaut played an awesome show and they turned out to be really awesome guys. Yakuza, on the other hand, played a good show, but were total dicks. The lead singer was, apparently, better than everyone. Or so he thought. Total fag.This Message Edited On 01.09.08
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Metalcore and progressive elements usually end up being generic -core with some keyboards attached.
No keyboards here, it's more along the lines of what DEP does, but slower, give it a listen if it sounds interesting at all.
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cool review. im checking out the songs right now
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LOL @ Burt acting like progressive is a genre and not a modifier, gtfo.
And this is definitely metalcore, sorry brah. Just listen to Gleamer, and that's all you really need to fucking do, it's straight up metalcore from the start. It sounds like Dead To Fall for fuck's sake.
@kid from Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley, represent.This Message Edited On 01.09.08This Message Edited On 01.09.08
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Really? That's funny because their official website, their wikipedia page, and allmusic all say they play progressive metal, they can be found on progarchives.com, and post-metal is fairly progressive sounding itself... so excuse me for calling them prog (which I have changed to their secondary genre), Burton. Also, Kayo Dot can also fall under the category of post-metal, so call me crazy for hearing similarities.
What you need to realize is that people are stupid, all kinds of bands call themselves all kinds of shit, especially "progressive"; nowadays it's expected for any band with decent chops that plays in any time sig other than 4/4 to call themselves that even though it's always bull
Post-metal is really not "progressive-sounding", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean, bands have been doing post-metal for a good amount of time now, long enough for the genre to get saturated with similar-sounding bands
Kayo Dot sounds like post-metal once in a good while but they also sound like a hundred other different things at any given point whereas Intronaut doesn't
LOL @ Burt acting like progressive is a genre and not a modifier, gtfo.
Even if you're enough of a faggot to use it as a modifier (knowing you, this is probable) it's not. You could at least attempt to explain a band like Kayo Dot being "progressive" if only because they don't sound like anything else and are obviously pioneers, but I can name a whole slew of bands that sound like Intronaut, they're not anything especially revelatory
And this is definitely metalcore, sorry brah. Just listen to Gleamer, and that's all you really need to ****ing do, it's straight up metalcore from the start. It sounds like Dead To Fall for ****'s sake.
Oh there's chugging, obviously this means it's metalcore
It's obviously plain and simple post-metal, there's no need for a "core" anywhere hereThis Message Edited On 01.09.08
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No, it's when there's parts with clear hardcore influence that I say it's metalcore you moron. Listen to Gleamer again, if you can't hear the hardcore influence straight from the beginning, you need to get your ears checked.
/awaits arbitrary YOU USED TO LISTEN 2 KORN
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No, it's when there's parts with clear hardcore influence that I say it's metalcore you moron. Listen to Gleamer again, if you can't hear the hardcore influence straight from the beginning, you need to get your ears checked.
/awaits arbitrary YOU USED TO LISTEN 2 KORN
THERE'S A HARDCORE-SOUNDING PART AT THE BEGINNING OF ONE SONG THEY'RE A METALCORE BAND
Why don't you actually listen to the whole album and take into account all the other fucking parts that DON'T sound like metalcore instead of being a doucheThis Message Edited On 01.09.08
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Or in every single one of there songs there's prominent hardcore portions mixed with metal? I used the most blatantly metalcore song on their myspace so that people wouldn't hear an ambient part and be like OMG THIS IS POST-ROCK BECAUSE THE GUITARS ARE LIKE AMBIENT.This Message Edited On 01.09.08
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Or in every single one of there songs there's prominent hardcore portions mixed with metal? I used the most blatantly metalcore song on their myspace so that people wouldn't hear an ambient part and be like OMG THIS IS POST-ROCK BECAUSE THE GUITARS ARE LIKE AMBIENT.
Well see when there's parts that sound like post-rock interlaced with metal we actually call that "post-metal" I know this is a very difficult concept for you to grasp but you should put some thought into it before commenting again thanks
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But yeah, like, when a metalcore band has those parts, they're still metalcore. I guess you could like say its post rock influenced metalcore, idk, it is all very complex, this hearing buisiness.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I think we should just call it proggy post-metalcore and everyone should shut up, because the genre of the music doesn't really matter, the music's quality is all that's important.
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