Cage the Elephant delivers a contradiction with their new album "Melophobia." The ten track album’s songs are both grungy and comforting at the same time.
In their new album, Cage the Elephant keeps their signature sound which they have become known for in their songs like “Around My Head” and “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” but softens it.
The Kentucky originated band which toured with bands such as Muse and The Foo Fighters recently introduced a new album which is pleasantly unlike their 2010 album Thank You, "Happy Birthday." Songs like hit single “Come a Little Closer” and “Take It or Leave It” still contain the gritty vocals of Matthew Shultz, but without much of the pulsating desperation featured in the band’s older songs such as “Indy Kidz” and “Japanese Buffalo.”
Overall the newer album is more fluid than previous albums with songs that do not outrageously stand apart from one another. The songs mesh together, but still contain enough of a difference in sound to keep the album from getting boring. In older albums, a slow paced song suddenly jumps into a fast paced, dissonant song. The albums lack a unity that is present in Melophobia. For someone with anxiety, they are almost impossible to listen to as a whole because one second you’re listening to the soft, slow “Right Before My Eyes” and the next you’re listening to the dissident “Around My Head.” In Melophobia, the soft pleading vocals and regular beat of “Black Widow” slips into the steady guitar work of “Hypocrite” blending together mellifluously. The only exception is the song “Teeth” which sticks out from the other songs like a sore thumb with a loud, penetrating brass section breaking through Shultz’s angry vocals.
The new album (for the most part) may be nice to listen to as background music, but one cannot really immerse himself in the songs and get lost in the beat, with the exception of the song “Come a Little Closer.” The album acts as a good stepping stone in the band’s music career. Cage the Elephant has cemented its distinct sound and brought fluidity to it. The album also continues its legacy of songs with strong, personal, honest lyrics. The songs cover topics such as fear, lust, wanting and guilt.
Overall the album, the album is an exciting to new checkpoint in Cage the Elephant’s successful career. For fans, the album represents possibility. New listeners can be enchanted by the distinctive sound. Although the album is not truly remarkable, it does not fall short of expectations.
