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I
think this is what they mean when they say ‘forward
thinking metal’. Without being overtly complicated
or ridiculously exaggerated with their playing,
California’s Intronaut just wrote the best mind bending
pretzel-logical metal record of the year. I gotta say, I
loved Null and Void enough to interview
them a couple of years back, but Prehistoricisms
blows those two recordings out of the water not by the
sheer volume of its power chords but by the manner in
which this gravelly foursome blends progressive music
with patient ever evolving mid tempo heaviness. That’s
one of Prehistoricsms’ virtues; it never goes for
the cheap shots; instead of accelerating frenetically it
constantly seems to pull back, instead of including
crazy solos and full on rage it offers instrumental
passages with swift jazz finger-bending.
Prehistoricisms takes its time to fully display its
fragmented disposition, so those in a hurry, beware!
Intronaut’s
fine arrengements borrow freely from 70’s spacey prog leanings
(“Any Port) and discordant jazz arrangement (the bass playing of
Joe Lester exists in other albums entirely, often venturing into
its own travels) as well as by current brutal metal. Smartly,
vocalist Sacha Dunable never goes soft or melodic, instilling in
Prehistoricisms an air of actuality and undeniable
metaldom. One dimensional? Sure, but its power stays long past
the last seconds of Prehistoricisms. It’s this ability
to appeal to prog-minded nerds as well as metal troglodytes
which propels and declares Intronaut one of the smartest metal
bands of today.
One more
thing, when was the last time you heard a drum solo in a record?
The delicate beauty that is “Any Port” comes to a ceremonious
end when Danny Walker takes the reigns; the album’s historical
tribal moments clearly mark one more step in the album’s
evolution.
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