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Rating:
The noise is a nihilistic, depressing genre, that with its (non)musical anti-notes and all its frrrrrz and bssssst evokes scenes of unthinkable and indescribable violence, permeated by post-industrial filth... Making noise is a bit like putting Lynch's "Eraserhead" into music, a product that with its delirious aura takes you to distant, dark places that you might have preferred to avoid, but in which fortunately (or unfortunately?) if you have the strength to continue, you can't help but keep going... to try to understand more and appreciate them...
But these guys, the Melt-Banana I'm about to review, are real jokers. I admit they are genuinely amusing jokers, meaning they are Japanese. And any artist/group/frustrated long-haired person or outsider who delights in flooding my ears with annoying but sexy noises deserves attention: from the Land of the Rising Sun come gentlemen like Boris, Merzbow, Masonna...
The difference between Melt-Banana and those gentlemen is that Melt-Banana are very (too) humorous in composing and do not offer us challenging and rough monoliths of dubious meaning but inconclusive (though fun and carefree) 'hardcore miniatures'. The flaw of this playful debut, "Speak Squeak Creek," is the absence of a track (one would have sufficed!) that leaves a lasting impression.
Unfortunately, nothing of the sort: Melt-Banana offers us a weird and unusual 'grindcore' (in this case, it's a bit to be taken with a pinch of salt) with massive noise injections characterized by sky-high distortions (often you might mistake the guitars for ambulance sirens). The 'noisecore' that results is seasoned with a generous dose of shrill and incredibly fast Japanese voice, anime-style, which accompanies us throughout the album, drawing more than a few smiles...
But at the end of this very modest and truly shallow playful experience, I asked myself... uhm, does this album have a soul?
The sound is quite explosive but ultimately pointless, the voice perfectly matches the offering but eventually wears out... After three listens, you get the impression of having listened to (more or less, a few tracks stand out slightly) the same song 25 times. If you want to indulge in some light entertainment listening, it's highly recommended, but if you're looking for serious stuff that leaves you with something significant, avoid it.
Tracklist
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