Melua - Dark Fabric - Song Review - Progressive Rock from Pori, Finland
Today we are featuring a promising progressive rock band, Melua, from Pori, Finland, with "Dark Fabric", the new single release of the band.
Dark Fabric wasn't the song I discovered this Finnish progressive rock band, in fact, I already knew about Melua with their self-titled debut album, which was released in 2020. This means nothing but one thing, this band has made an impact on me, kept itself alive in my memory all this time.
It didn't take too much for me to think of Tool, while listening to this song on Spotify first, and I'm sure I won't be the only one who thinks that way after releasing this article. You can feel Tool energy from their mix, composition, instrumentation, tonings, band photos, and music video. However the question here is, can these facts stop us from wanting to hear this song one more time in the end, isn't it?
I personally enjoyed listening to the song. First of all, Melua's sound has good qualities and standards to offer. For a moody song such as Dark Fabric, and unlike any other overly dry and processed Tool music out there, it unusually has lively energy we usually hear from the alternative rock scene, specifically from bands that focus on their live performances such as Foo Fighters. In this way, Melua separates themselves from any other progressive rock with their additional grunge, alternative, psychedelic, and sludge rock influences with their musical blend, one of the main reasons why I like this band.
Moreover, the composition has a lovely progressive touch in every way. Alternative rock ideas accompanied by super progressive bass while vocals add dirty grunge rock character to it, which reminded me of the Polish progressive rock band Riverside. The general structure of the song is cinematic with Western and Sci-Fi vibes all along the way.
Dark Fabric is a step forward in Melua's professional career, taking the band closer to their next objective without hesitation. These Finnish gentlemen have the necessary quality in their origins, yet more importantly, I see potential in their characteristic blend. This song has reminded me of all the progressive bands I love such as Porcupine Tree, Tool, Riverside, Steven Wilson, Red Fang, Blackfield, and even Mastodon, this combination just cannot make anything poor.
On the other side of the coin, I must admit that there also are some weaknesses. First of all, Dark Fabric is a simple but progressive song. As a die-hard progressive rock/metal fan who often listens to long instrumental sections, grew up listening to the entire collections of Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Ihsahn, Death, I was kinda disappointed when the song started to repeat itself after the ending of the first chorus part. This path took the journey somewhere too obvious, commercial, and unexciting to me, it wasn't easy to get motivated again for the rest of the song.
The moody vibe of Dark Fabric is strong, immediately takes you to its world which we can see happening in the video. This is fantastic, hands down. I love songs that start and end with the same vibe, leaving the effect on you afterward, making it irresistible with its visuals and music video. Although Melua did everything necessary to make this song progressive, the instrumental sections were "too alternative rock" for me to enjoy, particularly when they are this long. The musical journey never goes out of the box, from time to time feels like you don't hear any other notes rather than in a minor.
Lastly, the music video idea is brilliant, pictures look great, old school cinema filter added character to it, overall good job. Nevertheless, I have never been a fan of Tool music videos. They were always unstylish and boring to me for various reasons, whereas Dark Fabric has a similar approach. I know this is too subjective, so I'll leave the decision to the listener.
When I take all these into account, I'd like to say that Melua is already among my promising progressive rock bands list. Dark Fabric is a well-crafted sophisticated prog rock song with heavy Tool vibes, accompanied by alternative/sludge rock influences.
In conclusion, Metalhead Community Team congratulates Melua for their successful work in "Dark Fabric", and wishes them the very best in their future careers. Thank you for reading.
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