Label: Holy Roar Records.
Release Date: 27th April 2018
Genre: Sludge Prog metal.
As a musician, I love to listen to a band and think “That could be me!”, the surge of inspiration is something I bring straight to my band members and craft music around. That is something I just don’t get from Boss Keloid. I simply cannot identify with them. They’re not just a bunch of blokes making music, they’re wizards. Transcending any musical rules, they have put together an album full of sounds I still can’t quite work out, a funk ladened proggy metal record with musical themes of Middle Eastern magic intertwined with folk sensibilities. Melted on the Inch is witchcraft.
It’s not revolutionary for a band in 2018 to make genre bending music, Cancer Bats did it last week with their hardcore/metal/punk blend and Conjurer fused all sorts of metal influences on Mire. It’s especially nothing new when a metal band draws from influences in folk or jazz, but what Boss Keloid do on this album goes far and beyond simply playing with conventions. It’s creating a style, a new subgenre, a pocket for them to live in alone.
The album is welcomed in with looming drums and organ sounds, as each layer kicks into action the listener is battered around by changing tempos, chorus chants and sludgy guitar parts. I can picture a conductor not only signalling in each instrument, but each genre as Boss Keloid’s stoner influences run wild, wading through sludge and every other style they incorporate. Alex Hurst’s raspy voice cuts through me like butter as he proclaims “All night. We wait for the sun…light” in a weird kind of vocal hook. It’s moments like these that give Boss Keloid their wizard status as my brain works overtime to decipher what on earth is going on.
The 6 songs that make up the album flow into one as the adventure progresses and 41 minutes feels like a flash. There’s always something new added to the broth, never for a second letting you out of their grip as they throw in different click rhythms on ‘Peykruve’ or the doorbell sound that welcomes in the vocals on ‘Jromalih’. It’s so completely well thought out and encourages you to listen as many times as you possibly can.
Delivering in brilliant one line vocal hooks such as “Have you ever really hated something that you should love” or “There’s no fun in the game if you’re always the winner”. Melted on the Inch is littered with clever singalong bursts of joy, genuinely catchy lines amongst the sprawling epic moments. Despite this, Hurst’s voice allows for all vocals to become, well… beltable, something not expected. Even as his vocals turn to low screams at the end of Lokannok, you can still catch me singing along.
Flowing throughout the course of the album is the sound of the Middle East, a distinct musical theme that works together with the bands folk sounds to transform the record into something otherworldly. This style couldn’t be brought to life without all 5 members of the band, but it’s the interplay between the guitars and keyboards that stuns me throughout.
With song titles that make it look like the band just lent on a keyboard when naming them and a sound that is genre-defining, Boss Keloid have written an album so special that it will mark a moment in heavy music whether it’s wholly noticed by the metal community en mass or not. Any review singing this albums praises, calling it extraordinary or one of the greatest things to ever happen to metal is something that I can whole heartedly get behind. Beautiful and dark, delicate and otherworldly, what Boss Keloid have done on Melted on the Inch is truly masterful. A supreme ode to music-making.
Melted On the Inch is out today so check it out!
Rating: 9.5/10
Recommended Track: Chronosiam
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