Review Summary: No vocals? No problem.
Instrumental metal is difficult for me to listen to. Unless you have very catchy riffs like Eric Johnson's
Cliffs Of Dover or Michael Angelo Batio's
Full Force, the majority of instrumental songs just sound incomplete to my ear. It's probably the fact that I believe songs should have purpose, like telling a story or expressing emotions, rather than just being songs for the sake of being songs. If a song doesn't have a purpose, more often than not I question whether it should be worth listening to. Trust me when I say this album is worth listening to.
Intervals is a 4-piece instrumental tech-prog-djent metal (instru-djent-al?) band from Toronto, Ontario. Off the top of my head, one may compare them to Animals As Leaders or Textures. Every musician is phenomenal and everyone has their own moment to shine and they play off of each other exceptionally well. The drums are fierce, the dual guitars harmonize brilliantly, the polyrhythms are spot-on and the bass is audible. The only real gripe I have is that the electronic samples scattered throughout the album I feel are kind of unnecessary and used only because that's what all the kids like nowadays.
As stated before, I adore songs that tell stories or express emotions and that's usually the reason why I don't normally listen to instrumental music as much as the next person. However, the leads on this album are stellar and almost take the role of vocalist providing melodies that will stick around should you pay enough attention. The atmosphere created throughout the 5 tracks is also very well-done, putting one into a dreamy mood until the band focuses on unnecessary chugging. Most times, it's passable but there are a couple spots throughout where they chug just for the hell of it. If you can get over that, you shouldn't have a problem with the album. It's great mood music, and it has a nice atmosphere. Ambidjent for the win.
