Intronaut is a four piece from California made up of members of Uphill Battle, Impaled, Exhumed, and Anubis Rising, although they sound nothing like I remember these other bands. Intronaut sounds more like a technical metal band with jazz-like flourishes. Void is their first full-length after the wittily monikered EP, Null.
"A Monolithic Vulgarity" leads off Void like a jazz record with noisiness that sounds kind of like a band warming up on record prior to actually kicking it into gear. There is something extremely mechanical about the way the song slowly integrates itself. By the time the vocals fade into the mix the band has played with a couple of variations of the main riff while incorporating little flourishes here and there to make it interesting. The band showcases quite a few tricks and nice sounds during the course of the track. Unfortunately, the song is just not loud enough. It sounds too even keeled, almost to the point of sterility and takes away some of the power of the dynamics that they utilize. "Gleamer" is a more powerful song. Intronaut immediately begins to lay into the listener with this one. One issue is the lack of bottom. That may or may not be a production issue since this track sounds very even keeled as well. The big pounding parts that the guitars have here would definitely be more powerful sounding if there was more bottom.
"Fault Lines" has a very quiet beginning. There is an almost ominous tone to the music. It's too bad that they kind of just roll over into the distortion and gruff vocals and then back again. "Nostalgic Echo" has a really pretty sounding intro to it. It is laid back sounding and gives a good idea as to the kind of depth that Intronaut is capable of musically. When the song turns heavy, they still keep aspects of that intro and turn it on its ear throughout the duration. The song is much chunkier sounding during the heavy moments than the band is on the rest of the record. "Iceblocks" has a jazzy, swinging feel in the beginning. It is really odd to hear along some of the heavy material; but considering what Intronaut has shown throughout this record, it really is no big surprise.
There is no questioning the collective musicianship that Intronaut displays. They are obviously accomplished players. Void just kind of suffers from a sterile sounding record. The levels are all nice and even, too nice and even. It lacks a certain visceral quality that would probably benefit the record's overall impact. The bass sound is very clear throughout the record and it peaks in now and then, but there is no real bottom to the whole album. Fans of technical metal will probably eat this up though.
