By Madeleine Coate
Sports Editor
Cage the Elephant’s new album “Melophobia” is a blast from the past, bringing back the smooth rhythm of the 70’s, while also incorporating contemporary sounds.
The album still has the band’s previous psychedelic sound, but also has an older 60’s and 70’s feel in a few tracks. Overall, the band toned down the intensity the vocals to allow for a more mellow sound.
The Kentucky natives, vocalist Matthew Shultz, guitarists Lincoln Parish, Brad Shultz, and Daniel Tichenor, and drummer Jared Champion formed Cage the Elephant in 2006
and signed with the semi-independent record label Relentless Records one year later. They released their first self-titled album in 2008 and became known for their singles “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” and “In one ear.” In 2011, they released their second album “Thank You, Happy Birthday,” which was well received and gained the band a lot of notoriety. Most recently, Cage the Elephant premiered the new single, “Come a Little Closer,” on Aug. 8 on their YouTube channel before releasing “Melophobia.”
The album kicks off with “Spiderhead,” which is one of the best songs on the album. The album brings back some past musical tactics with its fuzz sounds of a distorted guitar, which are similar to those of Led Zeppelin, and uses unique percussion instruments like maracas. Shultz’s vocals are still audible, but definitely do not overpower the music. The lyrics are also well written as well as abstract and address the complexities of heartbreak. The song begins “I am the one you left for dead/ You say you wanted to/ You are the bullet in my head/ And as you stand over my grave/ You’ll pause the lips upon my face.” The lyrics allow the band to create a peculiar narrative of a love-hate relationship.
After “Spiderhead,” the album contains three hard rock singles, two of which fall short of the band’s past hits. “It’s Just Forever,” featuring Alison Mosshart from the Kills, lacks creative lyrics. Like “Spiderhead,” the guitar rhythm is similar to that of Led Zeppelin. Mosshart’s vocals also sound strangely similar to Gwen Stefani in her album “Harajuku Girls.” The song sounds like Cage the Elephant hastily composed it without connecting the band’s vocals with Mosshart’s. The song concludes with a random piano solo, leaving the listener a bit confused. “Teeth” is the best of the three hard rock songs and has a fast-past guitar accompanied with Shultz’s loud and energetic vocals. The song concludes with jazz sounds and a strange, dazed narrative.
Despite the disappointment from Cage the Elephant’s hard rock tracks, the band’s hit “Come a Little Closer” is a bit closer to the band’s past successes. The band utilizes guitar vibratos as well as a mix of tempos, allowing the vocals and music to get stronger as the song progresses. The song still has a psychedelic feel, but the way it is arranged with each chorus and strum of the guitar becoming more powerful than the last is what sets it apart from their past songs.
The rest of the songs on “Melophobia” have a mellow feel. The track “Telescope” connects with transcendentalism because the lyrics focus on the fate of a faceless individual. The chorus has a 60’s and 70’s feel and says, “Time is like a leaf in the wind/ Either it’s time worth spent/ or time I’ve wasted./ Don’t waste it.” The song has a slow, electronic background that is soothing and well paced.
Overall, “Melophobia” is well written, but does not live up to the band’s previous work. The album is diverse, with a mix of different styles of hard rock, psychedelic, and electronic music as well as fast and slow tempos.
“Melophobia” was released on Oct. 8 and is now sold digitally and as retail for $9.99.
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