EP Review: Melt – All the Joy, All the Pain (Self Released)

French dark alternative rock quartet Melt will release their brand-new EP ‘All the Joy, All the Pain on July 25th, 2021. It is the follow-up to 2020’s phenomenal album, The Secret Teaching of Sorrow.

A super exciting release, simply because it comes from such a unique band like Melt. All the Joy, All the Pain might be a DIY release, but it’s infused with everything that makes Melt such a pleasure to listen too.

A playful and odd musical intro (the title track) bleeds into Apikan and Melt begin to really showcase their dark alternative rock sound. Eerie vocals and powerful melodies that suddenly and abruptly erupts into a post-metal frenzy and back again. It’s captivating and wacky, Melt at their finest.

Then we have Heart, where mellow vibes (driven by those stunning vocals) collide with bizarre but catchy guitar rhythms and the tip-tap of drums. A track that is a little difficult to compute at first but really grows on you as it goes on and through multiple listens.

Two and a half minutes of dreamlike instrumental melody makes The Way I Am (a cover of Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders) another memorable listen before All the Joy, All the Pain Part 2 has Melt go big. The finale is arguably the most challenging of the tracks and has very little sense or order to it. Yet, the deeper down the rabbit hole you go with Melt, the more it all starts to sound… right.

The band’s so talented they don’t craft anything without sense and reason and this track, hell – the whole EP, reflects that. The order in the chaos, chaos that is dark and cold but warm and comforting at the same time.

Melt – All the Joy, All the Pain Full Track Listing:

1. All the Joy, All the Pain
2. Apikan
3. Heart
4. The Way I Am (Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders Cover)
5. All the Joy, All the Pain Part 2

Links

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