Intra released an EP in 1984 and recorded a brace of material before and after, most of which appears on this disc and honestly, it’s not that great.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Intra
ALBUM: Intra
LABEL: Shroom Records
SERIAL: SP-98006
YEAR: 1999
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Mato Tomorowitz – rhythm guitar, vocals * Jim Masar, Jim Bossard – bass * Billy Wright, Mike Baran – lead guitars * Joe Mazzolini – drums, vocals * Michael Blazy, Will Scharf – drums * Tom Rotar – keyboards * John Charlilo – keyboards, bass * Mal Barron – flutes, sax
TRACK LISTING: 01 Soda For A Symphony Jerk * 02 The Voice Of Winter * 03 Heroes Of Ganymede * 04 Farmboy * 05 One Last View * 06 Son Of The Astronaut * 07 The Machine * 08 Threes * 09 Ritual * 10 Sea Bird * 11 The Projectionist * 12 Circle Kings
Background
Believe it or not, Ohio turned out a surprising number of progressive rock bands back in the day including St. Elmo’s Fire who released the collectible ‘Live At The Cleveland Agora’ album and of course The Load which we’ve reviewed here previously. Add Intra to the list of ‘Buckeye’ bands who tried to take the Europeans on at their own game although it wasn’t easy.
Clearly the band struggled going through a number of line-up changes and a serious lack of venues willing to book the band and their complex music. They gotta sell beer right? Yet despite the ups and downs that face any band playing original stuff, Intra released an EP in 1984 and recorded a brace of material before and after, most of which appears on this disc.
The Songs
And honestly, it’s not that great. Divided in four sections; the unreleased ‘Owl Sessions’, music from the ‘Chemical’ EP, the 1990 ‘You Will See’ demo and three 1980 live tracks recorded in Cleveland; the music try as it might, doesn’t really go anywhere.
I do like ‘Soda For A Symphony Jerk’ and probably because it reminds me of Caravan and ‘Son Of The Astronaut’ which was the a-side of the EP sneaks in a few Starcastle influences although neither song is top-shelf prog.
The live tracks are a little more interesting, almost sensing a jazz rock band struggling to break free of its progressive rock shackles. Still, complexity for complexities sake has never thrilled me and with poor vocals and half-baked ideas masked over by extended and pointless jams, this is not a disc I play often-if ever.
In Summary
From what I can tell main stay Mato Tomorowitz has resurrected the Intra moniker and put out a couple releases over the years and currently is playing live on Ohio’s north coast. Based on this long out of print disc, I have little desire to hear anymore Intra and my guess is their prog rock days are long behind them.
