Going on five studio records, Melt Banana are at a crossroads. Over the past decade (yes, the band is older than your cousin in the 3rd grade), they've managed to practically redefine hardcore punk while never really breaking free from their own self-created sound universe. The staggering consistency displayed in their run of releases is unmatched, even among their more intense countrymen Boredoms and Ruins. Some people say all their songs sound the same, and while I'm hardly willing to go that far, I will say that if intense tech-punk isn't your thing, you can safely avoid all of their records. The discerning listener will recognize small deviations in the formula over the years: gradual integration of electronics and post-rock production, longer songs, occasionally slower tempos. However, Yasuko O's voice is still way up in the stratosphere, Agata's guitar is still running laps around Eddie Van Halen's worst nightmares, and Melt Banana, for better or for worse, occupy the same place in the hearts of indie and experimental listeners everywhere as they have throughout their existence.
The question is, do you still want to hear them turn out another record? Seeing them live is one thing, as like clockwork, every year they blow whomever might be sharing the bill with them off the stage. However, conventional wisdom (certainly not always to be trusted) says that one only needs so many Melt Banana discs. In this case, I'd say conventional wisdom had a very good point - but it doesn't account for everything. Like Teeny Shiny and Charlie before, Cell-Scape improves on just enough to be interesting for anyone curious, and probably another must-have for fanatics. I fall somewhere in between, and thus can recommend it with only the slightest caveat that if you hated the band before, it's not likely to change your mind.
That said, there is quite a bit here to preach to the converted: impossibly speedy workouts like "Key is A Fact That A Cat Brings" and "Like A White Bat in A Box, Dead Matters Go On" remind me that there is no better band on the planet at ramming a punk jam down my throat. Additionally, it should be obvious that Melt Banana possess the best song titles in the business, and along with them, some of the coolest, sprawling poetic lyrics. "Shield For Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand" busts out of the gate with an almost nu-metal sense of pounding and over-engorged mix. Agata plays a nifty, surprisingly straightforward riff over Rika Mm's perpetually motive bassline. Yes, the lightspeed acrobatics return at the mid-section, but the new wrinkles are what distinguish Cell-Scape from its immediate predecessors.
The most obviously new sounds occur on the one-two jab "If it is the Deep Sea, I Can See You There" and "Outro for Cell-Scape" that ends the album. The former tune begins as pro-forma MB speed etude, but just as suddenly transforms itself into an almost poppy piece of indie rock, with Yasuko defying all odds by actually singing! It's a very interesting move on their part, and perhaps foreshadows future strategies. Then again, the extended electro-ambience of "Outro" suggests that they'd rather be psyching it up with Yamatsuka Eye. It's actually a little reminiscent of the last track on Charlie wherein the preceding boisterous half hour was made null and void by a thick wall of impressionistic goo. Again, an interesting move, and one of the reasons I have no problem recommending the disc.
I've hoped for a while that Melt Banana would drop their masterpiece, their grand statement to consolidate their power into a tightly wound critical mass. I see a few more people show up every time they come through town, and now is as good a time as any for them to really take off beyond the realms of fringe noise bands. Alas, though hardly a misstep, Cell-Scape is not that masterpiece. Nevertheless, I'm as tuned in as I ever was to their next move.
