Meltdown - Ash

Back in the day when Britpop was all the rage, there were a bunch of young upstarts who released a record called Kung Fu. It was popular on radio and soon Ash were starting to get some notices. The debut album 1977 was full of punky pop anthems such as Oh Yeah and Goldfinger, needless to say the album was a huge success. The second album Nu-Clear Sounds represented a more heavier experimental sound and with it came disappointing sales. 2001?s Free All Angels marked a blend of the previous two albums with some punky hard-edged anthems such as Burn Baby Burn coupled with refined song writing on Shining Light. 2004 sees the release of Ash?s fourth studio album entitled ...  Read the complete review

Ash have been around for some time and produced many good albums with great songs, Lose control, burn baby burn to name a couple. Their sound has always been very similar and is quite easily seena s tried and tested. And by the popularity of them from an early age it worked. So when meltdown was released I headed out and bought it straight away. Now I was confronted by something very unusual when I played the cd for the first time. The ash I once knew had evolved into a greater version of themselves. The album was a lot heavier and gave them a bit more kick to previous songs and albums, Wheeler and co certainly tried to impress with a new sound and my ...  Read the complete review

The return of Ash was always going to be sticky ground as far as I was concerned. I’d liked Nu-Clear Sounds and 1977 but Free All Angels didn’t really do anything for me. It lacked any real sense of purpose with far too many mellow tracks. It’s not that I’m against mellower tracks; I just didn’t expect an album full from Ash. I decided not to write them off totally though as I’d heard a couple of tracks from the album and liked the sound of them. The Northern Ireland based band have been together since the early 90’s, starting out when they ...  Read the complete review

Before buying this record, I didn't really know anything about Ash. However, after hearing Orpheus on the radio, I got home and gave this a play, and I was not disappointed! Ash have done alot of growing up since their debut album '1977', and Meltdown present a heavier and slightly more mature sound for the band. The title track is a roaring rock anthem and kicks off the album. And the first line of the song "revolution, we're the solution" couldn't ring more true. The album continues with the heavier rockier sound, and the song Clones, which reached Number 1 is the UK Indies charts, is a particular highlight. When you reach track 5 though, you got ...  Read the complete review