Intronaut ~ Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words with Tones)

By Jennifer Russo

There is a low and soft continual hum, like thousands of drones working in their hive, which underlies Intronaut’s fourth full-length album. The sound invokes suspense as the listener awaits the inevitable explosive burst of energy and full-out metal madness, but it doesn’t happen that way. Instead, we remain sitting on a roller coaster that has reached the apex before the drop … and then lingers there … and then stops completely. We are left with a heightened heartbeat, wondering what to do next. It’s a dream come true for the daredevil.

Habitual Levitations, which was released March 19, has received nothing but good feedback ~ and with good reason. It is completely unexpected, especially if you have heard any of Intronaut’s previous albums. This record takes an unconventional approach to discovering the music at its core ~ an art form that can be experimented with, is subject to interpretation and does not need to follow a defined formula.

Interesting breaks and change-ups are in places you wouldn’t think they would be, catching you off-guard. Just when you think you have a hold of the melody and flow, the album spins on its axis and takes you in an entirely new direction, following a different path to some new revelation. It’s like a song, within a song, within another song. The nine-track album feels like 20. Harmonies are haunting and dead-on, reminding me of Alice in Chains’ delivery a bit, and the general sound seems to bring you back to past eras that you can’t quite pinpoint on a timeline. It has the spirit of rock with a jazz soul. It isn’t meant to be repetitive or have a hook; this album is a fluid movement that just continues on, taking you along with its current.

Intronaut will be performing at Great Scott in Allston on June 20. Tickets can be purchased at ticketweb.com. For more information, visit intronautofficial.com.

Love & Death ~ Between Here & Lost

By Jason Savio

The debut album, Between Here And Lost, by Brian “Head” Welch’s new solo band, Love & Death, is a rollercoaster of a listen for any old-school, nu-metal headbanger who was brought up on the down-tuned guitars of the ’90 s sub-genre. With former Korn guitarist Welch as the band leader and singer, Between Here And Lost is a Frankenstein of new and old.

Love & Death’s debut evokes flourishes of Welch’s former band, but he takes the extra step forward and gives many of the songs a melodic and anthemic quality that makes them more accessible. Both the opening track, The Abandoning, and By The Way deliver the expected crunch in the verses before taking an unexpected turn to grand, swelling choruses that make them memorable and ~ surprise, surprise ~ uplifting. Welch comes into his own when he sings unflinchingly in the latter, “And by the way I think about you and the memories/ I’m never gonna leave/ I know I’ll see you there with me/ Where we will always be alive.”
Welch’s vocals are also eerily similar to those of Korn’s Jonathan Davis, with an impressive ability to go from fragile whisper to Buffalo Bill growl while balancing a steady sanity in between.

 Between Here And Lost offers plenty for those already familiar with Welch’s previous work and enough of a fresh edge to attract new listeners. Although many artists struggle when they begin anew, Welch shows his chops and steps into the spotlight convincingly.

For more information, visit loveanddeathmusic.com.

With The Punches ~ Seams & Stitches

By Katey Khaos

With the Punches, as a band, is nothing new to the music scene. The band has been kicking around since ’09 and has busted out some awesome tracks. What is new is its first full-length album, Seams & Stitches, which shows off this band’s full potential.

The album comes in like a lion with “Riverside,” which doesn’t pull out any tricks until the end, when a guitar solo crashes against your ears. From here, the album picks up the pace, and tracks like “Bad Pennies” and “Postcards” show off the group’s true pop-punk stylings with fast riffing and drumming that will ~ at least for me ~ make you want to be in the pit.

The fifth track on the album shows off everything of which this band is capable. “Home in a Lighthouse” combines both spellbinding lyrics and gorgeous guitar leads. The chorus rings out, “I’m losing interest in all your promises/It’s a matter of fact, I was all alone/You were only looking out for yourself.”

Although one of the final tracks is only 52 seconds long, “New York Minute” is another one of the stronger tracks on Seams & Stitches. “New York Minute” has a bit of a skate-punk vibe to it, and With the Punches pulls it off better than most bands in that genre would. Once again, With the Punches is proving that it’s not how long something is, but how you utilize it.

To find out more about With the Punches, check out facebook.com/withthepunches.