Cage The Elephant
Melophobia
[itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/come-a-little-closer/id683346293?uo=4″ title=”Melophobia”]
Letter Grade: B
Melding together the upbeat songwriting that made their first two albums so successful, with a distinctly more lo-fi sound, the third release from Bowling Green Alt-rockers, Cage the Elephant, continues to drive more traditional Rock N Roll into the mainstream. Melophobia, the follow up to 2011’s wildly successful [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shake-me-down/id409370037?uo=4″ title=”Thank You, Happy Birthday” text=”Thank You, Happy Birthday”], starts off with two fast paced jams before slowing down in the third track, [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/telescope/id683346293?i=683346495&uo=4″ title=”Telescope” text=”Telescope”], a slow moving, somewhat sad, surf guitar fueled little ditty that is stuck somewhere in between [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-beach-boys/id562555?uo=4″ title=”The Beach Boys” text=”The Beach Boys”] and [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/mac-demarco/id501437762?uo=4″ title=”Mac Demarco” text=”Mac Demarco”]. The fourth track off of the album starts the fast paced rock and funk movement that is the trend on the flip side of this album. [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/its-just-forever-feat.-alison/id683346293?i=683346496&uo=4″ title=”It’s Just Forever” text=”It’s Just Forever”] features vocals from [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-dead-weather/id307168816?uo=4″ title=”The Dead Weather” text=”The Dead Weather”] and [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-kills/id5543013?uo=4″ title=”The Kills” text=”The Kills”]’ Alison Mosshart, and a grungy guitar riff. Track 8, [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hypocrite/id683346293?i=683346500&uo=4″ title=”Hypocrite” text=”Hypocrite”], might be the highlight of the album, it consists of a slow intro that builds into a full bodied song that really sounds like the Cage The Elephant that Thank You, Happy Birthday made us love. So the big question is what grade do I give the album? I think a nice fair B is in order. The album really rocks, and continues to pursue the same distinct brand of rock that the first two albums explored, but with other current bands like [itunes link=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/portugal.-the-man/id167649475?uo=4″ title=”Portugal. The Man” text=”Portugal. The Man”] pushing the same boundaries and releasing such similar music, I think it could have used a little more variation.