“Starcrossed” is the kind of big, swooning ballad singer/guitarist Tim Wheeler is so good at pulling off, and the hooks he concocts in “Renegade Cavalcade” and “Won’t Be Saved” are the kind that stay in your head long after first hearing them.Īlthough slightly more consistent than Free All Angels, Meltdown isn’t without its share of clunkers, such as the clumsy “Clones” (sounding more Godsmack than Undertones, which begs the listener to wonder what the hell they were thinking), the turgid “Detonator”, and the very goofy “Vampire Love”. The decidedly more aggressive “Meltdown” is a clear Foo Fighters rip-off, the melody lifting it out of the post-grunge quagmire, while the more tame “Evil Eye” and the ebullient “Out of the Blue” come closest to sounding like the wide-eyed sounds fans are more familiar with. The best example of that contrast is on the single “Orpheus”, which kicks off with a jarring metal riff that sounds lifted from System of a Down, but then shifts suddenly into a breezy chorus that’s as catchy as anything the band has ever done. For longtime fans of the band, it does sound jarring at first, but unlike Dave Grohl’s clunky, ham-fisted attempts at catchy guitar rock, Ash manage to connect more often than not, and when the songs do work, the riffs and hooks achieve a surprisingly effective balance. Released in the UK in June of last year, Meltdown returns to the more noisy sounds of 1999’s Nu-Clear Sounds, but this time, the band’s sound is Americanized considerably, thanks to Foo Fighters producer Nick Raskulinecz, who beefs up the record with layers of metallic guitars and big-sounding drums. The ever-resilient Ash are back with yet another American record company behind them (their fifth, in five albums), determined to tackle the market across the Atlantic one more time.
Heaven forbid a great pop hook should commingle with all the guitar riffs. Sadly, American rock audiences didn’t catch on. Seriously, when the joyful bubblegum rock of “Girl From Mars” broke in 1996, right smack in the middle of Britpop’s peak, who knew they’d still be going strong nine years later, at five albums and counting? After the woefully underrated Nu-Clear Sounds (and let us not forget their near-classic single “A Life Less Ordinary”), Ash made an impressive comeback with the slightly inconsistent, but undeniably hook-laden Free All Angels, whose singles “Burn Baby Burn” and “Shining Light” were two of the most perfect examples of power pop to come out in the last five years. Actually, the fact that the Northern Ireland band has lasted this long remains one of the most pleasant surprises of the last decade.
Although every attempt to hit it big in North America has fizzled, Ash continue to give it another go each time out, picking themselves up off the canvas, resolutely refusing to bow down for good.
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