Music Review: Meridian S/T EP

A Rare Find

It’s very rare to come across the early work of band and find it as seasoned, solid and enjoyable as Meridian’s self-titled release. Usually bands will display great promise, but need a lick of paint and better production, but Meridian show great aptitude for penning catchy songs and sound tight and polished to boot.



Opening song Children of Rust has echoes of Kalmah and Kiaus, employing groovy chug further enlivened by a very cool keyboard solo and is a cracker to open with, even if doesn’t sound particularly original. That’s my only (albeit minor) gripe with Meridian; even though they fuse a number of metal genres well, they don’t bring anything particularly new to the table. I’ve even heard ‘djent’ being applied to them; a fair label with a couple of passages here...shock horror as the metal ‘elite’ runs for the hills!



Sun raises the bar further, initially reminding me of In Flames circa 1999 (remember those halcyon days?) but with additional keyboard flourishes leading to another full-on key-tar solo. Meridian’s command of heavy, catchy and complete songs is already evident by the time their EP nears its halfway mark. Infectious riffs are then traded around with ease in Virocon and Let Go, and although these songs don’t quite have the driving energy of the first two, I couldn’t help but keep bobbing my head throughout.


The lack of a decent singer is often the fledgling or independent band’s downfall; without decent cleans to sing along to or quality growls to savour I find it very difficult to enjoy a band (Vindicator being a great example of this; great riffs but ugh vocals). Thankfully Max Ward has extremely competent pipes. His growls hit all the right buttons, and his sparsely employed cleans are muted and warm, particularly effective at the beginning of EP closer Empty Spaces where they are layered over delayed melody and building chug. 


Meridian is wrapped up in a very clean production, which lends itself well to their sound. I’d usually go for things a bit rawer, but here, with keyboards employed throughout the EP and a distinctly Scandinavian vibe going on, it fits like a glove. Their songs are also deftly mixed, giving each instrument room to shine, another misgiving of new bands well punched clean out. By now you’ve probably guessed that I like this…


Sounding like they’re heading into the peak of their career with 3 or 4 albums under their belt, Meridian are not a band to watch out for, they’re a band to listen to right now. Soak up this groovy melodic death metal for free (or send them some well-deserved cash) on Bandcamp – http://meridianbandaus.bandcamp.com/album/meridian

8/10 

Favourite Tracks/Sections: Hard to pick, but I do really enjoy the clean build up in EP closer Empty Spaces, and those early key-tar solos cannot be ignored!

Review: The Amazing Spiderman

Swinging again?

I recently had the misfortune of watching the new Conan the Barbarian (2011), and while it feels like nearly 2 hours that I won't get back, it did nothing to tarnish the brilliance of the '81 and '84 Schwarzenegger films.  In fact, it spurred me on to return to them in all their muscled masculine cheese, which is no bad thing.  However, The Amazing Spiderman is in new territory when it comes to reboots.  It is returning to the comic franchise after the last trilogy ended on a low note a mere 5 years ago, meaning they still feel new(ish), and the actual release weekends are relatively fresh in many a memory.  Furthermore, we all know Sony are doing this because of increasing Marvel film successes - they're in it for money, money and more money.  With that in mind, can another new Spiderman film/franchise hold up?


By casting Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, Sony immediately set a different tone with Amazing.  His sharp wit and charisma are a far cry from the awkward geekiness of Tobey Maguire, and translate particularly well post web-slinging transformation.  Peter's maturing character and sense of responsibility also develop more organically than before.  Similarly, Emma Stone is well cast as Gwen Stacey - a far stronger supporting role than Kirsten Dunst's whining and despondent Mary Jane.  As you can probably guess, I prefer the characters in this film.  The supporting cast, including Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Dennis Leary and especially Rhys Ifans, are all excellent.  (Any extra character detail here would likely bring spoilers, and I'll assume you've avoided the copious trailerage and do not wish to be spoiled).


Being a superhero movie I expect a certain amount of action, and in this regard Amazing holds up well, but does little to truly enthrall or amaze.  The battles throughout the action-laden second half feel rather formulaic; with the comic book superhero film filling to saturation point, something has to be spectacular - or spectacularly different - to really grip nowadays.  However, previous investment in the characters does help here, and some small neat touches around Spiderman's web-slingers and movements keep things interesting enough.


Once the film reaches it's somewhat predictable but nevertheless satisfying conclusion, you are treated to that other superhero movie staple, the credits teaser.  Barring financial failure we'll be seeing more of this iteration of Spiderman, and given the promise this film holds that's no bad thing.

Many people find the constant rehashing, reinventing and rebooting in today's media world a bore, but so long as studios keep doing a decent job of it, I'm game.

7/10