THE VINES
Melodia
(IVY LEAGUE) B+

Fourteen tracks. One of them runs for 6 minutes. The remaining thirteen are never given the chance to make it to 3 minutes, with one track not even making it to 1. To top it all off, The Vines’ fourth studio album, “Melodia,” when adding together all of those minutes, clocks in at 32. Exactly the way we’ve come to love it from them; short and sweet. Ladies and Gentlemen; give a big, warm welcome back to The Vines, one of Australia’s most important Rock & Roll acts in our nations musical history. Having officially departed from their major-label deal with EMI (who dropped the guys after average sales of their third album “Vision Valley,”) The Vines have moved shop; Sydney’s Ivy League Records, which is distributed by Warner Music Australia. The move has ensured that “Melodia” is their best record in years.

Get Out kicks the album off in a bit of a familiar blaze; it’s almost like a watered down version of 2002’s Get Free. Thankfully, things swiftly shift into top gear after a shaky start once Manger throws itself in your face with its urgent verses and killer chorus. In fact, anyone who was a keen follower of that Seattle grunge sound from the mid-90’s might spot a resemblance between the verses in Manger and the ones in Hole’s 1994 classic “Plump.”

As 3 brings things down a few notches for some mellow life-reflection condensed into 1 minute and 54 seconds, before launching into He’s A Rocker, an obvious choice for a first single from this project. Orange Amber is The Vines paying homage to The Beatles, whilst Jamola is just a bunch of loud noises that run for a total of 59 seconds, yet still manage to be completely enjoyable. True As The Night is as close to a ballad as the boys get on Melodia, and is the records longest running song; 6 minutes! Beautifully, those 6 minutes are musically epic and monstrous; this track will be a momentous lighter-waving-moment come future live shows; a truly magnetic and captivating piece of music. Scream is VERY Babes In Toyland, and Merrygoround is — dare I say it — a little Kurt Cobain in its approach.

Reaching back into Beatles-mode, Kara Jayne and A Girl I Knew are melodic, mid-tempo and exciting pop – yes, pop! – songs, the former being the records loveliest home to vocal harmonization. Incredible. Album closer She Is Gone is a nifty piece of 60’s psychedelia anyone would be happy to position their ears around.

In my opinion, The Vines’ previous two albums were unable to surpass that undisputed raw and unhinged fire found within their debut, Highly Evolved. Thankfully, Melodia seems to have reignited that passionate fire within them as a band, something which many would say (including me) was missing from their previous effort. Melodia is very much up there with that debut as being a truly gritty, yet enjoyable, record. By incorporating elements of the old and beloved into their sound, almost ironically, they’ve managed to give themselves and their music the necessary facelift it required.

If you ever needed further proof that Rock & Roll will never die, then Melodia will be the collection of tunes to shed light on the subject.