“Make It Out Alive” by Intruder 424

Surprisingly enough, quality music hasn’t been hard to come by in 2022 – and that’s taking into account the fact that just about everything else has been missing from shelves altogether thanks to the burden of global inflation. Intruder 424 has been busy in recent times working on new music, and in their new single and music video “Make It Out Alive,” we get to experience the fruits of their intense labor in glorious living color. These hard rock harmonies are tightly intertwined with a swing that couldn’t sound much more inviting than it already does, and whether heard in its single format or its video, “Make It Out Alive” sounds like a dispatch of decadence we all needed right now.

There’s a surprisingly elegant vibe to the melody from the get-go, but this only comes to be through the highly disciplined execution Intruder 424 is showcasing in this performance. These guys are actually adhering to minimalist principles in their delivery but skewing them with a desire to be louder and more enthusiastic with the hook than we’re anticipating (mostly because of the conservative stylization of the beat). This is a different look than the band’s competition has shown off before, but like all the greats to come before this crew, they aren’t afraid of growth; if anything, they’re ready to pursue it fiercely.  

The chorus of this track is the moment in which the band endears itself to the pop genre, and through the strands of muscly guitar melodicism, we can spy on disciples of classic rock-style harmonies living their dream in this performance. The music video is a little darker than I would have made it, but depending on how you’re reading the multidimensional narrative in this piece, it could easily be justified. That’s the fun thing about a work like “Make It Out Alive;” it’s good enough to have numerous angles and meanings, most of which the average Joe would be able to connect with even without hearing the band before.  

I think that Intruder 424 isn’t anywhere near maxing out their potential at the moment, but instead ironing out some of the details within their artistry to create as tight a sound as they can muster. “Make It Out Alive” is demonstrative of this, and for what it lacks in bombast it more than makes up for in originality and hard, cutting rock elements that could be called the bread and butter of this unit’s style. They’re keeping me satisfied with their music, and I don’t think I’m the only one at all.  

Somewhat bittersweet in its narrative but wholly immersive any way you look at it, Intruder 424’s “Make It Out Alive” is can’t-miss music from a band that a lot of underground ears are starting to get really excited about. There are a lot of different ways they could have produced this track, but by sticking with the formula that has been working for the better part of the last half-century – while making a couple of subtle aesthetical changes along the way – this modern rock syndicate eliminates the possibility of shedding one audience in order to gain access to another. That’s half the game in this business, and something tells me these players know it.

Mindy McCall