Album Review: Intronaut - Fluid Existential Inversions

Fluid Existential Inversions is the sixth album from LA progressive metal band, Intronaut. Like most progressive metal bands, their influences are varied and hard to pin-down. While Intronaut often receive favorable comparisons to Baroness, they have flat out denied any indenture to the south-east sludge sound. Instead, the group draws from a mix of hardcore-sludge, post-metal, and psychedelic rock from bands as varied as Yes and Neurosis. For this release, they sought out the help of producers Josh Newell and Kurt Ballou in order to give it a lush, live feeling. Whatever they paid those guys, it was worth it because this sounds impeccably clear, resonant, and orchestral. “Cubensis” begins with a flowing math-rock riff, which gives way to deep watery bass lines and peeling punky grooves, only to transition into ethereal space rock at the three-minute mark. “Contrapasso” raises the specter of Mastodon’s apocalyptic psyche-sludge with a heavy jazz-fusion influence, especially on the back end. Lastly, “Pangloss” (named for a character from Voltaire’s satire Candide) has a thick, meaty serpentine groove with bright arching vocal melodies; think Neurosis meets Torche. It's not Devin Townsend's Empath (but then again, what is?) and yet it's still a thoroughly enjoyable and captivating modern progressive metal album.

If you're ready to embrace your inner (or outer) nerd, you can grab a copy of Fluid Existential Inversions from Metal Blade, here, and check out the mind-melting sensory assault of the video for  “Cubensis” below.