I fell in love with Intronaut from the moment I heard their, at the moment, best album ‘till date, Valley Of Smoke. After that fantastic post-jazz-metal venture, Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) was released and infused their sound with even more progressive and jazz elements. So much, in fact, that it kind of overshadowed their post-metal roots which resulted in a sound that was too frantic, to mellow, and not as enjoyable as their previous offerings. But last year saw a new chapter in the never-ending musical evolution that Intronaut are.
More consistent that Habitual Levitations, more appealing than Valley of Smoke, The Direction Of Last Things is a perfect blend of post-metal, progressive and jazzy sound that is a trademark of this band. This is the kind of music that has to be in the center of your attention from the moment when the album starts ‘till the ending notes, and leave you wondering why this kind of music isn’t played by anyone else.
Complex song structures, breaks, vocals shifts, tempo changes, 180° turns, mad drumming, this album has it all. From the furious Fast Worms, progressive as f**k The Unlikely Event Of A Water Landing, to the ever-changing City Hymnal this album is a proof that experimenting in music can bring positive results, but only if musicians have a clear idea of what they are doing. This wasn’t the case with Habitual Levitations, but guys from Intronaut weren’t discouraged after their last album got mixed reviews and received lukewarm reception from fans, they continued to do their thing and, in the end, gave us this post-progressive-metal masterpiece and, after Cynic, became the first band who knows how to infuse metal with jazz while not sounding like they escaped some mental institution (I’m looking at you Shining).
Anyway, if you are not considering yourself more avant-garde that Dali (or mad, in other words, yes I’m probably mad), a feat that is required to enjoy madhouse sounds that Norwegian Shining has to offer, and still want to hear nice jazz influenced metal (and you already listened to Cynic a thousand times), The Direction Of Last Things can be considered a perfect choice.
