Back when I was running Feedback in the UK, I heard from guitarist Michael Søbygge who sent me a solo album and some he had recorded with a band called Melodic Meltdown which I really enjoyed, and then there was silence. Fast forward to the beginning of 2025 and Michael contacted me to let me know he had decided to give music another try and had gathered around him musicians he had played with on those albums all that time ago, namely drummer Joe Clancy (Vardis, ex- Adrian Smith Blues band), bassist Lasse W. Wehner (Fears Unfolding) and singer Jacob Froberg (Guppyfish). At the time they were looking for publicity to play some festivals, and I was not aware they were going to do any recording, but here they are with four tracks which can be streamed or downloaded from https://www.joeclancydrumsandaudioproductions.com/music. The press release calls this an EP while the site calls it a demo, and I guess it is a bit of both, as it has been more than 20 years since they last released new material, and they were not exactly a household name back then.
Hopefully these tracks will get them the recognition they deserve as this is a blast from beginning to end. The guys always used to have quite a lot of non-vocal music in their repertoire, and here we have two songs and two instrumentals, but although Michael is front and centre even these always feel like songs as opposed to someone showing off technical ability without any feeling, which is what too many shredders are like. I once saw Vardis support Budgie 45 years ago, but while Joe is far too young to have been with them back then, one can certainly hear why he is the backbone of Steve Zodiac’s outfit these days as he has pummelling rhythmic power with lots of little tricks while never moving away from providing the firm foundation this music needs. Lasse also plays an integral role by moving around the melody, sometimes duetting and sometimes drifting away from the lead, ensuring Joe and Michael stay linked together while Jacob has a nice vocal style with much more breadth to his voice than many. As for Michael, he knows how to construct melodic metal which takes influences from many different areas, as while NWOBHM is the mainstay this is music which has great hooks and riffs which soon get the listener deep inside.
Overall this is a very welcome return from Melodic Meltdown, so when do we get the album guys?
Rating: 7/10
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Track list:
1. Touching Eternity
2. The Lie
3. Warlock
4. City
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