Posted on: March 4, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Intodown – Brave New World / 2007 Self / 11 Tracks / http://www.intodown.com /

Intodown is an act that loves their long tracks. This means that the shortest composition on “Brave new World” is 5 minutes, while the next (the eponymous track) is 7 minutes long. In the middle of the album, there is a 21 minute track. Now, whether the band will succeed or fail is really dependent on how the and paces themselves. The act takes a rock approach to thing, instead of trying to do something like dungeon or black metal, which would drastically reduce the number of individuals that could appreciate the album. Rather, Intodown comes forth with a brand of rock that focuses o the work of acts like the Replacements and Husker Du.

The band also finds themselves taking up the standard of some of the more psychedelic bands of the sixties to create something that is simultaneously intense and intricate. There is little in the way of traditional vocals during the opening track to “Brave New World” – “Elevator” – but the act is able to tell enough of a story to keep individuals interested throughout all eight minutes of the song. The eponymous track starts out with a smoky, country type feel to hard rock music – the nearest thing that I can approximate the band’s output to would be either “This Love”  or “Cemetery Gates”-era Pantera. Of course, there is not the quick shifts in the band’s sound that a Pantera was known for, but the overall sound of the track is similar to that. The first major shift in the band’s sound that I can really hear during “Brave New World” would be during “Revolution”.

“Revolution” has a carnival-infused sound to the track that stands alone as the only example of that particular sound during the disc. The band shifts back into a Black Sabbath-esque sound for the rest of the track, but the presence of this minor deviation from the sound cultivated during the disc will keep individuals interested. Where there is not as much of a focus on crafting a current, contemporary type of sound during “Brave New World, the style of music that Intodown does play will garner new fans. The absence of a vocalist would be problematic to pretty much any other act, but Intodown have the talent to make the instrumental thing work. This is an album that virtually requires listeners to strap a pair of headphones on and chill out for the duration of the disc.

Top Tracks: Intodown,  Revolution

Rating: 6.5/10

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