There’s a sense of determination, even fury, to Meltdown which has been missing from Ash for so long we forgot what a crucial ingredient it was. Sing-a-long love songs like “Girl From Mars” and “Oh Yeah” may have won them their crossover success but Ash were always a rock band - warbling ballads like “Candy” did them no favours at all.
So it’s refreshing when album number four kicks off with a quadruple assault from all four corners of Ash’s louder, faster aesthetic. From Meltdown’s dirty, guitar stutter opener “Revolution, we’re the solution!”, and “Orpheus” triumphant tub-thumping “I need the sunshine in the morning, heading for the open road” to “Evil Eye” and its sinister gothisms – “Giving me the evil eye, she’s mine” and the sleek gleaming melodies of “Clones” – “Shame that everyone’s the same, I thought you stood alone” it’s a timely reminder that Ash have always known many ways to rock.
“Starcrossed” is the album’s cash-cow, tailor made for teenage girls to sing mournfully along to while staring up at their Tim Wheeler posters. It’s a quality Ash product nonetheless, complete with trademark soaring chorus, understated strings and a rhyming scheme that’s set in stone. If it sounds formulaic that’s because it is, but it’s a damn good one and, to be honest, it wouldn’t be an Ash album without at least one soaring hymn to doomed love.
Elsewhere the Ash template gets stretched and festooned with new baubles - spoken-word lyrics, stark, eerie basslines and a vocoder all make appearances. But the whole atmosphere of versatility is slightly let down by Tim Wheeler’s narrow singing style that sees him sticking with the same breathless inflection throughout except when real heights are struck, at which point a kind of nasal twang kicks in. It’s a great voice, and Ash owe much of their success to their frontman’s powerful larynx, but a greater vocal input from Charlotte Hatherley, featured teasingly with some great backing vocals on the killer chorus of “Won’t Be Saved”, could easily take Ireland’s finest to a new level.
It’s a small criticism though - with Meltdown Ash have not only returned to the form that made them so essential in the first place but have also shown the crucial signs that they can transcend it.
By Dave Collyer