MASSLESS

Graviton is a side project around Intronaut's guitarist/vocalist Sacha Dunable. Together with Derek Donley and Darin Tambascio from the band National Sunday Law, Graviton explores more experimental and ambient ground then both Intronaut and National Sunday Law do. 'Massless' was recorded in 2010, prior to 'Valley of Smoke' but not released till 2011.

The music is very laid-back, progressive and psychedelic, with even some electronic experiments. The metal element has become hardly more then an afterthought, but the downcast mood of the music is still very much post-metal. The music is quite excellent, captivating right from the start and getting better near the end of the album. But there's a serious issue with the vocals for me. Sacha's clean vocals on the last Intronaut drained the album of much of its bite and energy, and this is also the case here. But ok, even though some songs become a monotone drone due to the uninspired (I'd even say non-existent) vocal lines, other songs work quite well. And let's not forget that the album is largely instrumental.

I think that fans of the quieter side of post-metal, take for instance Intronaut's more reflective work on 'Valley of Smoke', will enjoy this quite a lot. But a warning must go out against the sometimes disappointing vocals in the first half of the album. Still 3.5 stars. Probably more for fans of post-metal.