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!