| CD REVIEW Mely |
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Band: Mely The first thought that went through my mind after giving this album its initial listening session was why I had never heard of this truly magnificent Dark metal act before, in spite of the fact that they’ve been around since 1999 and are currently releasing their fourth album? Just goes to show you: these days even the freakiest music listeners among us (and I dare count myself in that category of focussed music lovers, since I come across over a thousand new albums every year…partly through this website, but mostly by what I purchase – a small fortune spent every year, I can tell ya!) cannot keep up with all the good band out there, and it’s pure chance (in the form of a willing distributor or label throwing stuff your way) that’ll bring the goodies to your table! Answers however came to that same table soon enough…like for starters: this is an Austrian band…which was still to be considered “development country” until only a short time ago, as far as Metal music in general is concerned! Brought together by their mutual passion for dark music, the original members (lead singer/ guitarist Andreas Mataln, guitarist/ backing singer Peter Lengfeldner, keyboard & synth player/ backing singer Martin Mataln, bassist Daniel Huber, and drummer Helmut Waltl) threw themselves into the battle with extensive rehearsals, then recording and self-releasing their debut album There Are Days…before the end of the formation year! Although the album immediately set the band apart in the Austrian scene as an act to keep an eye on, it did not get ‘em a recording deal. So, in 2003 the band returned with a new self-production titled …Reel Through My Wave (occasionally shortened to My Wave), and album which saw quite a bit of atmospheric and melodic enhancement of their music, showing the evolution the musicians had gone through in those three short years. Thanks to connections made in that first era of the band and the getting of many a positive review for the album, the band was this time able to promote it in front of somewhat bigger audiences, playing Austrian (and possibly also Northern Italian, since they’re from the Carinthian province in the South-West of Austria) supports to such internationally renowned bands as Anathema, Ektomorf, Emil Bulls, Graveworm, Leaves Eyes, Moonsorrow, Swallow The Sun. During 2005, they made it to the finals of the Austrian Band Contest, and in 2006 they managed to get invited to play on the main stage of that year’s MetalCamp festival (which also featured headlining bands Dimmu Borgir, My Dying Bride, and Opeth). Meanwhile the band had finally gotten a record deal with German based label Black Bards Entertainment for the November 2007 release of the band’s third album Leave And Enter Empty Rooms. Thanks to renewed positive reviews, the band was enabled to go on its first European tour (mainly concentrated on Germany – 8 gigs – plus one-off gigs in Holland and London) during April 2008, supporting Germany’s Xandria and Switzerland’s Stoneman. After that tour the Austrians even get invited to participate to one of Austria’s biggest Metal events, Summer Nights (which takes place towards the end of June). Soon after however, the drummer decides to quit the band for totally personal reasons (he wanted to give his life another turn), and the others are forced to look out for a replacement…which they do by placing an add on their website, an invitation for any technically good and musically empassioned drummers to audition. In early September one Hannes Ganeider is reveiled to be the new drummer, whom makes his live debut with the band on November 15 (at the same time allowing fans to see Mely a last time with their old drummer as well)! As it turns out, the new drummer had a big task at hand, because not only did he have to learn how to play the band’s older material, but at the same time he also had to practice the new stuff the guys had been writing. Obviously, Mely derived its name from the word “melancholy”, and there’s quite a bit of that available in the band’s music…both in the lyrics, the vocal stylings, and the music used…which doesn’t mean the band doesn’t alternate its music. In fact, the contrary is rather the case! Calmer and more atmospheric passages alternate with bombastically heavy, Doomy parts which are never completely devoid of some atmospheric addition, either through the keyboards or a wonderful lead guitar part…and vocally things alternate somewhat as well: there’s passages where Andreas’ voice is the only one present, but there’s also plenty of moments where the two others bring very nice synchonized backings (usually one a bit deeper, and the other a bit higher or matching that of the lead singer)…and with Martin being Andreas’ brother, he’s got a similarity in his voice which makes things that more interesting in certain songs. Take the magnificent “Hell Low”, for instance: all at once you’ve got this passage where Andreas goes a bit more aggressive, and at that moment his brother starts a drone (a nice play with the words “hell” and “low”) with the other backing singer…sounds like the lead singer is doin’ overdubs, but in reality the band can perfectly reproduce this in live conditions without the aid of recorders! The music is great in its own right, but the vocal proficiency of the band lifts things to a completely higher level! When I last looked at the band’s myspace (myspace.com/melymyspace) they only had songs posted from the …Leave And Enter Empty Rooms album, but just before closing off this review I saw they’d added “Bricks Against Porcelain Dolls”, yet another great moment on this album for the band (although the theme of the lyrics are rather sad)! In truth, although my preference goes to certain songs because of the inventivity with which they were composed, I cannot say there is really one song on this album that I find less excellent than the other. In essence, this is the kind of album I find essential to have iin my collection, and one I can recommend to any fan of modern Dark Metal! Hence the high rating and nomination into my personal “Best Albums Of 2009”-list. If you wanna make your acqaintance with the band in live conditions first, you can do so during the European tour the guys are on in support of Dornenreich (also from Austria) and Agalloch (from the US). The (short) tour (only a total of 10 gigs in as many days) will take the guys through Germany, Italy, UK (London), Belgium (Biebop, Vosselaar on March 27), and Holland (W2 in Den Bosch on March 29). Meanwhile, and that due to some delivery problems, the release date has been post-poned to April 4! 98/100 Tony. |