“I left a piece of my heart with you in the soil.“
Very few bands have gone from initially impressing to establishing themselves as a must listen in such a short space of time as Melting. Their initial offerings in “Modern Human Ritual” and “Complex” showed promise, yet lacked a certain edge; a handful of months later the Melbourne unit returned with “874“, which showcased a brutal harshness that made Melting an absolute one to keep an eye on. While often a footnote in many cases, their eye-catching artwork will draw in many alongside their aggressive sound, which leads them into their debut, You Exist Because We Allow It. And for an early body of work, it is an undeniably beast of a record.
The sheer wrath of Melting’s sound kicks in from the get-go, as “Unwavered” takes the now standard metalcore sound and injects elements of beatdown in a manner similar to contemporaries like Boundaries and Chamber. It’s an opener that separates the wheat from the chaff; the intent here seems to unleash a hellish soundscape upon the ear and mind. A blunt wrath is introduced on the aforementioned “874” as barked lyrics like “Kicked in the teeth by the ones I love” chew through the ear with a felt rage.
“Guided By Hand Of Witch And Corvid” is where You Exist Because We Allow It moves up a level. Yelled vocals of “Your skin has grown so cold, I’m not ready, I’m not ready to let you go” present a level of grief that I haven’t personally heard since VEXED’s “It’s not the end“. Weaving between sounds, it moves between discordant guitars and beatdown grooves, perhaps look at the contrasting and everchanging emotion that is grief. Returning to the sheer heavy metalcore space, “Into The Suffer” brims at the edges as if about to burst into an explosive DBM or deathcore riff and growls. The track sports the heaviest breakdown on the record, and when it hits, it’s the sort that feels like a boot to the head is impending.
The rage that the record has been keeping within itself unleashes itself on “Oblivion“. Almost misandrist in nature, it unleashes a heaviness that can only be backed by an utter contempt of all that is. The more melodic sound that was touched on during “Guided By Hand Of Witch And Corvid” returns on closer “Perhaps This Is Hell“. More introspective, the drum grooves command the tempo of the track as it moves between lines such as “I remember our promise, but I can’t let you go” and “I’ll dream about you, when sun sets,” which strike as potently as the likes of Alpha Wolf’s “Don’t Ask” did.
Calling to one of the most infamous lines in Mass Effect by name, You Exist Because We Allow It is inescapably impressive, capturing an emotion with a wrath and pain across several tracks that is truly commendable – many records struggle to spare that intensity for even one. While there are lashings here of prototypical metalcore, the way that Melting push it to its extreme makes it difficult, and a disservice, to simply confine them to that singular genre. With this, and a now incredible EP under their belt, Melting are an incredibly exciting prospect who will hopefully capture the ears of many going forward.
8/10
You Exist Because We Allow is out May 2nd via Greyscale Records and can be pre-ordered here.