INTRONAUT | Fluid Existential Inversions | Album Review

Intronaut are finally back in action. After a hiatus that lasted since 2015's "The Direction Of Last Things", the band has now returned to the musicsphere with their latest studio album "Fluid Existential Inversions". The long wait in between studio albums was surprisingly not due to a lack of interest in recording and writing new material, but the band felt exhausted after touring and working on a nonstop basis since they founed in the year 2004. Ideas for the followup to "The Direction Of Last Things" had been floating around since 2017, meaning that the production period of this album lasted for under three years. For those not familiar with Intronaut, they are a progressive metal band from Los Angeles, CA that has a knack for polyrhythmic sections in their music, all the while blending that in with progressive rock and jazz elements. They've even been described as avant-garde metal due to their experimental nature, all of which is true about "Fluid Existential Inversions" as an album. In addition to that, the band seems to go in to every recording session with the hopes of expanding their boundaries. In a press release statement, the band describes the new album as "best album ever", in addition to stating that the musical instruments are their most unique to date, with particular praise to bassist Joe Lester. It comes as no surprise that Intronaut are open to expansion in their sound given their progressive categorization, but it's definitely a good thing to see and means that Intronaut has a lot to offer, even in a nine track album with each song lasting about six minutes in length.

"Fluid Existential Inversions" had several singles prereleased, "Cubensis", "Pangloss", and "Speaking Of Orbs". All three of these tracks fit solidly with Intronaut's expansive and experimental sound and aren't far off from other Intronaut albums. The guitars are aggressive and heavy at times and blissful in orders. The drums are expertly played, especially with Alex Rudinger stepping up to the kit as their previous drummer left in 2018. The vocals from Sacha Dunable also transition smoothly from heavy and gruff to solemn and toned down, though they aren't the highlight of Intronaut's sound. As the opening track of the album, "Cubensis" is a good example of what Intronaut does best with the instrumental portion of their sound. Sacha gives a solid performance in this song, but the section at 4:12 to 6:02 is the main allure factor with fantastic clean guitar notes and drumwork. "Pangloss" is an even better example of Intronaut trying to let the music tell the story instead of the lyrics. The song only has about two minutes of vocals before the instrumental work takes over and you're pushed right into progressive bliss. Every instrument on this song is played to perfection, especially the section in the middle, and it's proof that vocals don't always have to be center stage in order to make a song work. "Pangloss" is the highlight song of the album, but there are several other good elements to this album as well.

The moments on this album that stick out the best are when they focus on the excellent musicianship. This is not an album that is meant to be listened to in the background or intermittently. It is an album that requires your attention in order to have you fully sucked into the music. As eight of the nine tracks on this album are at least over five minutes with the longest track being the closer "Sour Everythings" at seven and a half minutes, and the shortest being the crushing intro "Porcurement Of The Victuals", there's a lot to take in as the album goes on. Tracks like "The Cull" and "Tripolar" are more exceptional examples of Intronaut turning things up a notch on the instrumental front and providing some mouth watering polyrhythmic riffs. While there are tracks on this album that you're destine to come back to more than others, such as these, the album does a good job at remaining consistent with its style and has the identity of the band in endless amounts. "Sour Everythings" is the epic closer that brings the album to a close in a satisfying and beatiful way, as the djent-styled riff that appears a couple times in the song is really the selling point along with more of the excellent musicianship promised with the first two singles. It's definitely something that pushes the boundaries of what the band can do but still stays restrained to Intronaut's signature style and doesn't get overbearing or too much to handle.

Admittedly, I think I do have a couple issues with the album, and one of them is more of a pet peeve than anything. Several of these songs play around with a 7/8 time signature, notably in the tracks "Speaking Of Orbs" and "Check Your Misfortune", and as unique as this album is the 7/8 rhythms aren't exactly pulled off in a new or interesting way. They do find some clever ways to utilize this time signature, but most of the tracks that feature it are clearly not the high points of the album in my opinion. Also, this album's consistency can be a problem in some ways as it does lose some momentum after a while. Even in saying that, there is a lot of effort and time put into this album, and it's definitely nice to have a band that focuses on making vigorous music that doesn't require vocals at times, and that is the skill that is the most applicable to this band. Comeback albums can be essential for bands, as they're meant to be a moment that proves if the band is here to stay or not. Intronaut succeeded at being competent and musically gifted throughout the entirety of their latest album. After this, it's hard to determine what move Intronaut will make, but as for this album, it's definitely a pleasure to listen to. Overall, "Fluid Existential Inversions" is a succulent showcase of beautiful progressive metal and musicians that are uber-talented. It's not a perfect album by any means, but this album's pace moves like fluid through a vessel. It is definitely worth the experience for any progressive metal fan.

RATING: 8/10

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