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Tracklist | |
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01 - Spider Snipe 02 - Blank Page of the Blind 03 - Cracked Plaster Cast 04 - Heiwaboke Crisis 05 - Cat Brain Land 06 - Plasma Gate Quest 07 - Type: Ecco System 08 - Call of the Vague 09 - Green Eyed Devil 10 - Crow's Paint Brush (Color Repair) 11 - T for Tone 12 - Slide Down 13 - Lock the Head 14 - One Drop, One Life 15 - In Store 16 - Dog Song 17 - Chain Keeper 18 - Last Target on the Last Day |
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Review | |
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With 2003's Cell-Scape, Melt-Banana came good on the promises of accessible grind that they had shown on previous albums like Charlie and Teeny Shiny. The band was already known in many circles for the manic combination of super-speed punk, guitarist Agata's wild experimentation, and the unavoidable high-pitched nonsensical vocals of Yasuko. It was Cell-Scape though that introduced the band to audiences larger than noise freaks and John Peel-lovers. Though the 2003 album only expanded the average song length from a minute and a half to three minutes, there was also the notable introduction of pop hooks and choruses. Thankfully, the band was unable to escape their founding in spazzed-out grind and the poppier additions made a hilarious and delightful compromise. So the expectations and fears were both on full alert when news of new full-length, Bambi's Dilemma, hit old and new fans. What the hell could this album possibly sound like? Would it push Melt-Banana further into the pop territory or would it still be noisy and exhilaratingly confusing? Well, both really (surprise!). Dilemma doesn't sound like a progression or a regression. It is simply a consolidation of Melt-Banana's past decade of recording, a greatest hits compilation with all new songs. There are still guitar heroics, there is still the rhythm section holding everything together, and there are still the manic vocals to guide each song. Most songs during the first two-thirds of Dilemma ram the traditional noise and grind parts snug up against the new style of fully-developed melodic choruses. If you were hoping for a progression down the line of Cell-Scape's accessibility, you will almost certainly be disappointed. The band is still loveably annoying and totally weird. If you don't laugh at a track like "Dog Song" where Yasuko jumps back and forth between singing about her dog and barking like one, you might be listening to the wrong band. After so many years as a band, Melt-Banana aren't still relying on the same tricks that won over their original audience. Overall there seems to be much more experimentation and production work put into each individual track. Early-album track "Cat Brain Land" is a perfect example, where weird sounds introduce the song and carry it during each bizarrer-than-the-last verse, but the chorus is all perfect straight-ahead pop punk. Where there used to be long prog-tronic outros, we now have electronic interludes in numerous places but most notably in the beautiful mid-album interlude, "Type: Ecco System." The final third of the album is especially notable because most of the songs hark back to Melt-Banana's early days of under-a-minute thrash that old fans will immediately welcome with open arms. Importantly, the band's new electronic sensibilities are still in tact and I would say they are much better here than on an album by themselves where they would normally get repetitive. Instead of separating the weirder elements, everything has now been incorporated into the typical Melt-Banana song structure. It's a bit disconcerting to never know what's coming next but that has always been part of the band's charm. Thankfully their palette is now wider than ever, and they have taken the four-year wait to craft a densely packed monster. Many people will be left exhausted by having the carpet ripped from under their feet so often, and truly, Dilemma does feel quite a bit longer than its thirty-five minute running time. Given patience though, each listen produces even-handed new opportunities for terror and bliss. Melt-Banana's greatest trick is that they always keep you guessing: terror could come from the softest moment and bliss from the loudest. |
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