"Shield For Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand" busts out of the gate with an almost nu-metal sense of pounding and over-engorged mix. Additionally, it should be obvious that Melt Banana possess the best song titles in the business, and along with them, some of the coolest, sprawling poetic lyrics. That said, there is quite a bit here to preach to the converted: impossibly speedy workouts like "Key is A Fact That A Cat Brings" and "Like A White Bat in A Box, Dead Matters Go On" remind me that there is no better band on the planet at ramming a punk jam down my throat.
I fall somewhere in between, and thus can recommend it with only the slightest caveat that if you hated the band before, it's not likely to change your mind. Like Teeny Shiny and Charlie before, Cell-Scape improves on just enough to be interesting for anyone curious, and probably another must-have for fanatics. In this case, I'd say conventional wisdom had a very good point - but it doesn't account for everything. However, conventional wisdom (certainly not always to be trusted) says that one only needs so many Melt Banana discs. The question is, do you still want to hear them turn out another record? Seeing them live is one thing, as like clockwork, every year they blow whomever might be sharing the bill with them off the stage. However, Yasuko O's voice is still way up in the stratosphere, Agata's guitar is still running laps around Eddie Van Halen's worst nightmares, and Melt Banana, for better or for worse, occupy the same place in the hearts of indie and experimental listeners everywhere as they have throughout their existence. The discerning listener will recognize small deviations in the formula over the years: gradual integration of electronics and post-rock production, longer songs, occasionally slower tempos. Some people say all their songs sound the same, and while I'm hardly willing to go that far, I will say that if intense tech-punk isn't your thing, you can safely avoid all of their records. The staggering consistency displayed in their run of releases is unmatched, even among their more intense countrymen Boredoms and Ruins. Over the past decade (yes, the band is older than your cousin in the 3rd grade), they've managed to practically redefine hardcore punk while never really breaking free from their own self-created sound universe.
Going on five studio records, Melt Banana are at a crossroads.
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