Intronaut

Sometimes that which is unsurprising can be quite the blessing. For their third full-length, post-metal quartet Intronaut maintain the same trajectory as on 2008's Prehistoricisms, the album that garnered them a great deal of attention, thanks to its pairing of traditional metallic sub-genres with jazz-inspired interludes, dichotomous vocal deliveries and a resounding, sludgy drive. Maintaining that sort of progressive nature for Valley of Smoke is a wonderful notion ― while Prehistoricisms was epic, it left plenty of room for expansion; it was like searching one corner of a castle's tiniest room. Shining some of that light around, Valley of Smoke illuminates some interesting new aspects of Intronaut's sound, namely even greater serenity and diffused anger offset by drawn-out structures. This creates moving pieces of music that rely not on the extremity of speed or detuned girth for their power, but an innate sense of avant-garde creativity clashing with the innate understanding of a downright blasting riff. Still, even with these eyebrow-raising moments, Valley of Smoke is still close to its predecessor: a pristinely delicate, yet crashing, almost psychedelic achievement.