With their new album ‘3+5,’ Japanese noise punk legends Melt-Banana break an eleven-year hiatus without losing their harsh, creative, and mind-obliterating edge – delivering one of the most fun and intoxicating experiences you will hear this year.

Stream: ‘3+5’ – Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana is BACK, baby!

After a quiet, decade-plus-long hiatus, the Japanese noise punk masterminds saw fit to release 3+5 (released August 23rd by A-ZAP Records). The newest installment in the band’s storied career delivers pretty much everything fans could have hoped for. Ichiro Agata’s wacky, dexterous, and virtuosic guitar continues to shred. Yasuko Onuki’s harsh and hyperactive vocals are catchy as hell. And the drum sequencing is nothing short of divine. Tl;dr, 3+5 is a 24-minute blitzkrieg of punk awesomeness which results in one of the most fun and intoxicating albums you will hear this year.

Prolific yet ashamedly underrated, Melt-Banana’s career began in the early 1990s with a slew of noisy and unpredictable alternative punk albums. Always pushing the limits of their sound, the band made a name for themselves for their harsh and eclectic approach to electronics, songwriting, and – of course – Onuki’s iconic high-pitched vocal delivery. Albums like “Charlie” (1998) and Cell-Scape (2003) showcased the duo’s sharp, hard-hitting sound while more avant-garde releases like Bambi’s Dilemma (2007) and 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 1994-1999) (2005) display the band at their most eccentric, with many of the explosive songs on these projects barely meeting the 1:00 mark.

The band’s first major hiatus of 6 years culminated in Fetch (2013). Perhaps Melt-Banana’s most complete album, the project showcased creative songwriting and an expansion on the Melt-Banana style while maintaining many of the band’s trademark quirks. Bypassing a live studio drummer, the band utilized a sequenced drum machine in order to capture a synthetic, more digital quality to the music. The music was well worth the wait as the duo managed to craft their most powerful batch of songs yet in one of, if not the best rock album of the last 15 years.

Melt-Banana once again succeeds in capturing the cinematic quality heard on their previous effort, making 3+5 feel very much like a continuation of Fetch.

The band’s sound remains loud, scratchy, and abrasive, but the band manages to create an incredible amount of contrast within the album’s short run time. Tracks like “Code” and “Scar” are absolute showstoppers which showcase the band’s catchier and more melodic qualities. The powerful major chords and series of elating synth arpeggios nicely bolster the band’s harsher aesthetic and create a sense of ease before the band smashes you over the head with heavier tracks like “Case D”. Melt-Banana leans into the striking consonance of these tracks, creating something that feels like being sucked through the universe’s brightest, most colorful, and mind-bending multiverse-traversal portal; it’s quite euphoric.

Blood pumping tracks like “Flipside”and “Hex” exhibit Melt-Banana’s heavier and more experimental side. The crashing drum machine accompanying Agata’s guitar absolutely roars (and I mean ROARS) and rips through the texture of the music- it’s incredible Onuki is still able to keep up with the amount of sound being thrown at the listener. Though much of the music is heavy, the band is still able to blast their energy to 11 on songs like “Stopgap,” an absolute stunner of a track and one of the best Melt-Banana songs ever. Period.

Though short in length, 3+5 manages to cram in as much fun and face-melting excitement as it can without sacrificing any element of enjoyability.

However, the short run time does hinder some of the song’s structures, leading to a few build ups that feel unearned. But like any great thrill-ride, 3+5 is nothing if not exhilarating. Solidifying their place as one of the best rock bands ever, Melt-Banana have (once again) created an album that is fast, captivating, and will leave you wanting to listen again and again and again.

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3+5

an album by Melt-Banana