At any given time, there are throngs of bands out there in the dense underground who are looking to make their mark known and their sound heard. No matter the genre, it’s a fiercely competitive landscape where only the daring and the talented are able to rise above and make an impact in a way that feels beyond noteworthy, but captivating enough for every one of the senses. In the shifting realms of heavy psychedelia, it goes without saying that the competition is exceedingly stiff. The style as a whole has been inundated by magnificence from all sides, and nothing shows any sign of that changing any time soon. With their bombastic third album, M.E.L.T. puts forth one hell of an argument as to why they demand our attention.

While there are those who constantly go out of their way to make for a wild impact and spread their sound far and wide across the scene, there are some that work best when they just do their own thing at their own pace. Allowing things to happen organically can oftentimes be the best route one can take, and that seems to be the case to me for what M.E.L.T. has been doing since its debut four years ago. Honing their craft at a respectable rate and consistent in their release schedule, M.E.L.T. has thrived in relative obscurity when it comes to their presence in the digital soundscape. However, it’s with the arrival of their latest effort, “Innervate / Obliterate”, that I truly believe that should change.

Right out of the gate, it should be obvious to any listener that M.E.L.T. is not a band that sits in the same sonic territory for too long nor is this a band that is afraid of going against the grain if it means tapping into some mental plane of euphoria that incredibly few bands can come even close to scratching. Each of these eleven tracks are overflowing with frenetic energy of a singularly intoxicating sort that commands your full attention and makes damn sure you succumb to the very power that “Innervate / Obliterate” never once seeks to diminish. Every minute seems to have a personality all its own, with M.E.L.T. always seeing their smoked-up, tripped-out sense of psychedelia all the way through to the end to ensure that their journey is as filled with otherworldly splendor as much as it is utterly captivating between its riffs, tremendous songwriting, and engrossing attitude. Above it all, M.E.L.T. makes it clear they’re having a damn good time putting on this performance! There isn’t so much as a second of “Innervate / Obliterate” that isn’t utterly soaked in the euphoric joy that M.E.L.T. exudes with open smiles and a deep sense of comradery with it all being the icing on top of a creation that already has so much going for itself.

This is a band loaded with potential that has already been accessed to a significant degree, yet I cannot shake the feeling that there is more to this band than what they’ve already thrown down. Competition is always at a fever pitch in this sound and there’s never really much room for error when you’re looking to climb the ranks and make your name known, yet M.E.L.T. seems content in occupying their own little corner where people are free to come and go as they please. The very energies of the cosmos play a role in the joy that this band takes in delicately crafting their sound with the whole of “Innervate / Obliterate” showcasing that to terrific effect. M.E.L.T. has achieved unique greatness with this record and deserves to be hailed as such.

LISTEN to “Innervate / Obliterate” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE M.E.L.T. on Facebook here.

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