Meldrum "Blowing Up the Machine" is when female fronted rock goes bad. This disc is heavily influenced by the alternative scene, with thick sludgy guitars, distorted rhythms and in-your-face vibes. It may be chick sung music but what's here has balls. Unfortunately it's just not very interesting or catchy.
This was produced by Toby Wright which should have sent up flags of warning. He has also prooduced
Korn, Fear Factory and Alice in Chains... oh dear. But maybe things could turn out right? This is a band led by ex-Phantom Blue guitarist Michelle
Meldrum (hence the name
Meldrum) so there should be a light of hope. Yet there's not.
"Purge" kicks the disc off with nothing but pure pain. The guitars are thick, rancid and roaring alongside the equally distressed drumming. Its thunder kicked but vocalist Moa sounds like she is throwing up all over the song. She is the chick version of a death metal vocalist. Her voice is so shot it sounds like she smoked for a million years and her lungs are clogged with smoke which she is trying to dislodge throughout the song. Argh.
"Down Your Throat" is more thrashy punk with gritty vocals. If you are in the mood for this, perhaps there's some shredded threads to grab at here, but otherwise...meh. It's too akin to Slipknot for comfort.
Offkey caterwauling and downtrodden music that's ten years dated makes
"Scar" sound about as fresh and exciting as a dirty sock. A dirty gym sock. That was left in the rain and mildewed. And then was regurgitated upon. Yes, it's that terrible. Further on you get the blasting
"Miss Me When I'm Gone", a bewildering title because I doubt anyone will miss this band once they fade from their meager existence. Lemmy from Motorhead pops here as well. The two try to sing together. The results are pathetic and like two cats howling in heat while someone scratches their pointy fingernails down a blackboard for a nerve weeping "screechy" effect.
The album dives into absolute mediocrity after this. A few of those songs had attitude atleast, but as the disc drones on it begins repeating themes and just runs together for a long string of pure pain.
"Exploited" has Moa attempting to sing in a straightforward fashion instead of doing the
Korn shout-spin. This doesn't work either, she just chews and spits at the verses while the music seems equally disjointed and struggling behind it.
"Get Yours" is just awful, coming apart at the seams and trying to be tough and modern. But its not, its just sad.
"Outta Here" is probably their best work, focused on rhythm, guitars that have a more standard hard rock tone, and another straight up vocal attempt from Moa. It's not cringingly terrible but is not half bad, which is an improvement on the massive scale for this disc atleast.
The disc is vile, and alot of that can be contributed to the "vocals" of Moa Holmsten. The gal just can't sing. She has no voice. Not even for this aggressive, piss-in-your-drink type music. Even with her removed and someone else leading the charge, this would still fail. The songs are just not interesting enough to be worthy of any attention other than the negative kind. This
Meldrum disc is one of the worst things to hit the market in quite awhile and is better buried before it pollutes more ears.
Meldrum would be better coined "HoHum". Very blah bland music, even if everything they try to do screams otherwise. The cd is all over the place and its grinding sound will either appeal or repel. There's no comfy inbetween here. If punk/thrash/alternative minded music is to your liking then you might consider a look into this female dominated outfit. Even at that, they are a poor imitation for the bands they are trying so hard to emulate. Fans of Corrosion of Conformity,
Korn, Slipknot, Fear Factory,
Black Label Society and other "modern" "metal" bands should still be cautioned and if none of those outfits interest you then this disc will cause nausea and loss of hope for the genre. So please, stay far, far away.
Written by
Alanna Monday, June 18, 2007
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