THE DIRECTION OF LAST THINGS

Stylistically Intronaut have taken a slight step back to their heavier past and reintroduce harsh shouting hardcore vocals. A feature which was almost completely missing from their sound on the predecessor. Most vocals on the album are still mellow ethereal clean singing though (I'm often reminded of Paul Masvidal from Cynic). The instrumental part of the band's music is still rooted in an adventurous playing rhythm section. Both drummer Danny Walker and bassist Joe Lester are very busy and quite inventive. The same can be said about the two guitarists/vocalists. The technical level of playing on this album is simply through the roof. There are strong jazz/fusion leanings in the music, but also sludge, post rock, mathcore, and progressive metal elements. The many styles combined it's pretty hard to make a valid description of the band's music, but atmospheric and technically well played progressive metal isn't an all wrong label.

The material on the 7 track, 46:03 minutes long album is well written, intriguing, and consistent in both style and quality. The combination of heavier hard edged parts and atmospheric mellow sections works well for the band. Even at their most aggressive and busy Intronaut have a sophisticated calm to their delivery, which means the music on "The Direction Of Last Things" is sometimes closer to rock than it is to metal. Artists like A Perfect Circle, Tool, and late era-Cynic are valid references.

"The Direction Of Last Things" is a very well produced album, featuring a clear, organic, and powerful sounding production, which fits well with the atmospheric music. So that combined with the brilliant musicianship and the adventurous songwriting, make for an intriguing listen and a high quality release. That's of course no surprise if you're familiar with Intronaut's preceeding releases, but it's still worthy of praise that they can continue to keep the quality level of their output as high as they do here. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

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