With a lineup featuring members and ex-members of Exhumed and Uphill Battle, the first thing you may notice about Intronaut's 'Null" is that it is a marked step back from its two antecedents; where Uphill Battle and Exhumed throw forth morbid bursts of speed, grind and frenzy, Intronaut wind through vastness, melody and control. Though people always do the band member comparison thing, Intronaut is by no means a side project.After the pointless 27 second noise intro, Intronaut jump right into it with (just let me reach into my comparison grab bag...ah here were go) the swagger of Mastodon, the stripped-down punchiness of Botch and the spaciness of Isis. I think that's fair. 'Sores will Weep' bends around itself for a minute bit before Sacha Dunable's distorted scream cuts through, and then it winds around itself some more until the quiet breakdown about halfway through the song, at this point it becomes apparent that Danny Walker's drumwork is what keeps Intronaut interesting when they threaten to go the way of Pelican. Walker shines again on the albums best track, "Fragments of Character", which centers on a riff that sounds maybe a little too close to "The Beginning and the End", Isis's opener on 'Oceanic'. The song breaks down again (am I the only one detecting a pattern here?) into a clean, melodic solo part before building back up at the end. Actually, thats pretty much the story of the album. It just goes through the motions, reminding me of other albums, but breaking in with enough catchy hooks and good moments that it keeps me interested.My biggest problem with Intronaut is that even though these guys are good at what they do, it just doesn't bring anything new to the table. When I listen to 'Null' I think about Isis a lot (there are actually distinct 'Oceanic' and 'Panopticon' moments), Mastadon a bit, and Swarm of the Lotus a lot. But even though this album is pretty derivative, and its roots show through fairly obviously, I still kinda like it. It is consistent and, for fans of any of the aforementioned bands, there are definitely some great moments to dig out of this one. More than anything, I'm just glad Danny Walker is still drumming.In all, I give myself a 6.5 out of 10 for bringing up Pelican and Isis without mentioning weed at any point in this review.