The Chevelles: Sunbleached

I owned a ‘72 Chevelle and it was a decent car. This EP is decent. The songs are kind of catchy. It’s crunchy. It’s poppy. Except it kind of feels like there is some kind of power struggle within the band, or within the main writer. At times they approach guitar riffing power pop a la The Velvet Crush. At others, they approach the grunge and distortion of a Green Day. The key word is . . . approach.

Consider the opening track, “Stardust”. The song has a nice guitar riff, but the melody of the song never goes far enough. The second song, “Time and Time Again”, has some nice harmonies, but not much else. The third song, “Bloodlust”, suffers from a serious issue: the melody follows the chords. That never works for me. The last track, a cover of “Lost in Love”, appears to be a tongue-in-cheek version of the hit song. Sure, the original is MOR, but it had a nice melody. This version kind of strips the song of its melodic beauty.

I’m all for 4/4 Marshall stack three-minute rock. I am a champion of the three-minute pop song. The problem is that so many bands are doing it, and doing it very, very well. These guys seem to be most comfortable with a Clash London Calling kind of sound. But hovering between that, power pop, pop punk, and anything else won’t work without melody. Not that this isn’t something I’d listen to over 99% of the stuff released, but it’s not the best that I think these guys can do.

And please, have somebody mix some of that high-end sheen off your next recording. Apparently, The Chevelles are from Western Australia. Let Michael Carpenter in Sydney mix your next recording. This EP would have probably sounded a lot better if mixed properly.

I positively despise writing lukewarm reviews because they never read positively. This EP is good. It’s just not great and, to make any kind of noise, it must be. I wish these guys luck because there’s something there, albeit in glimpses, on this EP.