Intronaut have to be one of the best thinking-man’s bands around. Up there with the likes of Tool and Mastodon, the band have pushed the bar with every single release since their eponymous debut EP ‘Null’. This of course provides all the pitfalls of having to match and out-do the previous record. And with the seminal ‘Prehistoricisms’ LP still fresh in everyone’s minds, the band have a major job on their hands.
From the outset of the album’s opener ‘Elegy’, the band sound on form and ooze confidence and poise throughout the track - with elements akin to Mastodon, and High On Fire present in the mix, it is a strong song. ‘Above’ continues the confident form with a show of serious drumming prowess by Danny Walker - close harmony vocals, driving bass line, and clean guitars all come together to create a rich and seductive whole. ‘Miasma’ however turns the aggression up for a strong guitar and bass driven prog metal masterwork. ‘Sunderance’ is a more frantic and chaotic sounding aggression executed with fantastic timing and harmonies that blends the clean harmonic vocals wonderfully with the metallic groove of the music.
‘Core Relations’ breaks out the ambient synths and clean harmonious guitars propelled by the groove of the drums and bass before hitting the ‘epic’ mark with the introduction of the vocals to the mix. ‘Below’ uses samples to great effect for a disorientating and disturbing intro before returning to the strong grove-led formula that fans of the band love them for. The title track ‘Valley Of Smoke’ is an instrumental of many movements that blends jazz, metal, tribal, rock and even lounge music for a long, trippy journey. The final song ‘Past Tense’ is classic Intronaut with its ambient introduction and jazz groove-propelled heavy metal formula which makes for a very strong finisher.
Altogether the band have created yet another tapestry of an album that is equally accessible and intelligent. The strong groove of the songs show the skills of the band members off with great effectiveness and even with proggy embellishments they manage to remain catchy and heavy.
http://www.myspace.com/intronaut
