In short, all Rapidshare links on Wilfully Obscure are officially kaput. In doing so they have permanently locked my account, and they cannot be persuaded to let me challenge their actions. Just to get those of you who haven't been here in a week or so caught up, Rapidshare, my file hoster of choice for over five years has severed their alliance with me due to alleged "copyright" violations. Click on the hyperlink above for my original spiel on that disk. I've given you the opportunity to make up your own mind below, and conveniently bundled with it is an alternate rip of Paquet de Cinq, taken from a cleaner vinyl copy. upon first blush, but despite Rhythm Corps deeper embrace of slick, Reagan-era studio finesse the songs comprising the ep eventually began to stick (although I'll probably always regard them as inferior to more poignant, solid-gold nuggets like "Broken Haloes"). Filling the gap between Paquet and the the Common Ground album cut for Columbia in 1988, came another ep, Esprit de Corps. It barely sounded like the work of the same band that found a modicum of mainstream success in the late '80s, who by that stage had undergone quite the sonic overhaul.
I quickly sought out the record it was derived from, Paquet de Cinq, and dedicated some space to it last year. While it's an obvious grab for North American ears, if this is anyone's first exposure to Ash, they'd be better off hunting down the group's earlier albums to understand why the band has made it this far Meltdown is an incomplete picture of what they're capable of.I was reintroduced to the Rhythm Corps (formally Rhythm Method) two years ago when I caught the original 1982 version of "Solidarity" on a college radio program. Sadly missing here is Ash's sense of vulnerability, a key element to their charm.
Meltdown has a cohesive sound, but takes a few dips into cliché, like the power ballad "Starcrossed" or the Placebo-like lyrical baiting of "Vampire Love". Only the springy chord-thrashing of "Clones" befits the album's artwork, though given the convincing production from Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, System Of A Down) it would fit snugly into an American modern rock playlist. Most songs intermittently use heavy riffs as dressing to sneak in their sing-a-long melodies, like lead single "Orpheus" and "Detonator". Hopefully, no one picked up the import sight unseen and expected to get their face melted- despite palm-muted guitars and rollicking drums, the approach is a little more Smashing Pumpkins than Judas Priest. The irony is that this album has been languishing without a stateside release for the past nine months.
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