Album Review
The Vines - MelodiaThe Vines - Melodia

To be fair I have never taken time in the past to listen to anything by The Vines but now I have checked out their new album 'Melodia', I kind of wish that I'd listened to these guys sometime ago as 'Melodia' is one hell of a strong album that is crammed full of strong catchy songs that are really easy to get into. The style of the album slightly reminds me of Supergrass crossed with The Hives and I suppose that comparision is not too far from the actual sound. The Vines came out at a time when The Hives, The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Vines were all competing within the same music scene, with people making their choice of which bands they liked and disliked from the four.

The first album from The Vines came out in 2002 and was called 'Highly Evolved', 'Melodia' is the fourth album release from the band which means that I have some serious catching up to do if I really want to get into these guys back catalogue. What I have noticed is that The Vines like to write short but sweet songs that run for about 2 minutes, most of the songs on this 14 track album run for this length of time apart from 'True As The Night' which runs well into the 6 minute mark.

The album starts off on a high with the ever so fast and catchy 'Get Out', The Vines blast through the song like there is no tommorrow, the song lasts for just over 2 minutes which is just enough time to get you bopping along, this is good stuff, I officially like The Vines. the next track 'Manger' comes in sounding a bit heavier with massive drum rolls, a thick bass line and the guitar riffs are pretty damn fast it's like speed has been consumed for lengthy time and The Vines have been let loose on guitar., the chorus reminds me slightly of Supergrass which is a good point as I have all the time in the world for Supergrass.

'A.S III' is another song that sounds a bit like Supegrass but more like the chilled out style like they covered with 'Late In The Day' and songs like that, at the same time the song also reminds me of Oasis which can only be a winner.

'He's A Rocker' rocks just as much as the song title suggests, this is the lead single release from the album and it's one hell of a fast catchy short song, the chorus comes in thick and fast, this is The Vines at their best and proves to be one of the biggest highlights from the album, the song is extremely short just missing the 2 minute mark but whilst listening to the song you really dont notice how short running the song actually is, maybe the greatness of the song plays trickery on the brain and gives you the illusion that the song is on for much longer than it actually is.

Just under the midway point, well 6 tracks into the 14 track album The Vines unleash a 59 seconds intrusmental track on us under the name of 'Jamola' the song is a good listen and sounds like the result of something that happened during a crazy jamming session, it breaks the album down a bit and gives you a bit of time to get ready to take in the next song that runs well into the 6 minute mark.

'True As The Night' is definitely the song on the album that stands out the most, now I am still not sure if this is a good point or a bad point as the song is quite a dark and gloomy song that runs for well too long and sadly sticks out like a sore thumb on an album that is crammed full of fast melodic songs apart from this one song. However the song is still a good listen but proves to be a little too much when you notice it's still going on 6 minutes later.

Luckily things get pretty much back on track for 'Braindead', well when the track first starts off you are left thinking that the second half of the album is not going to be as enjoyable as the first half as 'Braindead' doesn't really start off that great but then suddenly the song reaches a moment of madness with a big fat guitar riff ripping up the airwaves and a set of shouty vocals, now this is The Vines at their heaviest best, it may only be for one track but it's much welcomed.

'Melodia' is a great album by The Vines, I can't compare it to their previous album releases as I don't actually have anything to compare it to due to the fact that I have never taken time out to listen to The Vines apart from this album but what I do know is if the previous album by this Australian indie band are anywhere as good as 'Melodia' these guys are going to have a hard job picking tracks for their greatest hits album if they ever do decide to release one.

4/5

Review by Trigger
 Band Members

Craig Nicholls (vocals & guitar)
Hamish Rosser (drums)
Ryan Griffiths (guitar)
Brad Heald (bass)
 Track Listing
1. Get Out
2. Manger
3. A.S III
4. He's A Rocker
5. Orange Amber
6. Jamola
7. True As The Night
8. Braindead
9. Kara Jayne
10. Merrygoround
11. Hey
12. A Girl I Knew
13. Scream,
14. She Is Gone
 Band Related Links
The Vines Myspace
The Vines Official Website
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?