Review Summary: Loud-quiet-loud—at the same time.
Look, ever since the Pixies turned on their amps in the late 80s, every musician in the heavy rock scene could hardly claim to be original. Every band’s attempts to alternate pop melodies with raging riffs and distorted freak-outs are and should be met with a raised eyebrow, since in our day and age it's getting harder to come up with anything new. So please don’t take my upcoming words as claiming a break-through in rock music, it’s just that Melkbelly does it
really damn good.
Churning through noisey riff after riff, the Chicago-based band downplays the shock factor that factored into their earlier works and live performances—Miranda Winter’s shrieking vocals over fuzzed-out guitar-work switching on a whim. Here, the sound is far more cohesive than before, yet they swerve away from creating a boring sound. There’s a surprising variety to be found in these melodies and riffs, sandwiched together in a thrilling way that largely discards the “loud-quiet-loud” formula that has dictated rock for decades. Instead, loud and quiet happen at once, syrupy melodies grounded by aggressive noise as a backdrop. It makes momentous moments like the outro of “THC,” the opening highlight here, stand out all the more. The song breezes through a straightforward structure before zoning out into a thundering instrumental outro that builds off what came before rather than throwing it away. This emphasis on constructing throughout a song rather than tearing down each time we switch from verse to chorus is a simple one, but one the band reaps the benefits of expertly throughout.
Central to the band’s ability to rely on each other in this way is the fact that they’re ridiculously close. Vocalist and guitarist Miranda Winters is married to guitarist Bart Winters, whose brother Liam is on bass—a fact that every review of them ever is inclined to mention. This family dynamic, emphasized by close friend James Wetzel on drums, clearly bleeds into their relationship as musicians, as they play with far more trust and confidence than many of their peers at this stage in their career.
It’s unclear yet just how far Melkbelly will take their sound, as it’s not one that caters to a wide audience just yet. It’s one that can wear on the uninitiated, and while the band makes some huge strides here, it comes off as a bit too close to the chest—with a closing duo too timid to leap from your headphones and shake you. Still, this is a band that deserves to have a voice in the indie crowd, and if anything, this album is proof that they have the guts to take that leap when they’re ready.
