Intronaut
The Direction of Last Things

Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

"The word 'Intronaut' basically means inner-traveller, designed to encourage the listener to explore his or her own mind". - Danny Walker, Intronaut's drummer.

It's always a breath of fresh air to hear metal that is something different, something new. Quite frankly, innovation is the name of the game for Intronaut. The Californian outfit entered the metal scene with their promising debut Void; although it did not attract much attention, its Meshuggah-styled riffs and heavy metal textures signified the start of something beautiful. Their breakthrough record Prehistoricisms featured a more progressive sound with the entry of guitarist Dave Tinmick, which ultimately led to the band mastering their signature sludgy sound with touches of jazz and ambient music. Since then, they've released excellent records such as the visceral and melodious Valley of Smoke, and the accessible, less ferocious Habitual Levitations. Their latest release incorporates complex polyrhythms and a staggering fusion of metal and jazz to create a blistering effort.

As soon as the lead single "Fast Worms" opens the album with muffled drums and faint riffage, you find yourself drawn into a sonic wasteland of sludgy, dissonant and erratic chord progressions. The track features a plethora of sounds such as the brutal aggression of past Intronaut gems and stellar drum-work from Danny Walker. But the jazzy midsection of the song is where it really gets interesting, featuring gorgeous melodies and a bumbling bass-line, before the concluding chorus ricochets back into play. One of the obvious traits this band has exhibited in the past is the structure of their songs; they begin staggeringly heavy and break down into more appealing and melodically expansive bridges. Such a formula is exhibited in the following track "Digital Gerrymandering", a track that saunters along in its dystopian sonic canvas before deepening into a gorgeous harmony of guitars and vocals. Elsewhere, the penultimate title track blazes along with a triumphant tone and an assortment of polyrhythmic riffs, while "The Pleasant Surprise", the shortest song of the record, is more concise in its blistering heaviness.

Although the band is lauded for their crushing, maniacal riffs and growls, the album's best moments are actually its most serene, appearing in the form of album centrepiece "Unlikely Event...", a track that uses intelligent harmonisations and gorgeous soundscapes before erupting into a cathartic coda. The bass shines through on almost every song, and the percussion is an astonishing focal point of the record's. Perhaps a flaw of the album's is that frontman Sacha Dunable doesn't growl nearly as much as he did on Prehistoricisms, though his clean singing style is quite enthralling nonetheless. The lyrics are as abstract and grim as the music itself, dealing with themes of spirituality and death. But honestly, the music itself is much more significant than the subject matter, as you delve into an underground world of dissonant and meandering post-metal goodness. The production is a little too clean and doesn't sound as raw as the previous releases, but the album's pros outweigh the cons by a mile. So whether it's the doom-y soundscapes of "Sul Ponticello" and "City Hymnal", or the succinct brutality of "The Pleasant Surprise" you're here for, the album will surely deliver in every way. A brooding masterpiece.

Recommended:
Digital Gerrymandering
The Unlikely Event of a Water Landing
Fast Worms

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