et’s get things off the ground with some generalizations that I’ve often heard in regards to Melt-Banana: Melt-Banana are “awesome”, Melt-Banana are “insane live” and Melt-Banana have a “crazy and extremely short” lead singer. Melt-Banana have been doing all of these things for quite some time, but these are good stereotypes, on the whole, and lead one to want to hear the band. And while Cell-Scape may not be their best effort, it does present the band’s signature traits in full force despite the fact that the predictability of this set-up has left their sonic assaults somewhat dulled over time.

Yasuko O does her best to not let the listener get comfortable, however. The sonic equivalent to sliding the end of an exact-o knife against the inside of your ear, O’s quasi-melodious intonations present themselves as cute, but reveal themselves as cloying upon further listening.. Once you move past the vocals, you’re left with an extremely versatile (and extremely tight) rhythm section that’s fully capable of both mid-tempo grooves and hardcore freak outs.

On the album at hand, Cell-Scape, the music starts and ends with two ambient pieces, fitting well as bookends to the sonic carnage found elsewhere. As soon as the second track crashes in, it’s made very clear that the band has no intention of becoming an ambient group, with the requisite pummeling one would expect from a Melt-Banana record commencing in full force. The band makes a solid effort to vary their tempos and riff-work in order to keep the songs from blending together, and for the most part it works, though a definite air of sameness permeates the record.

The force that keeps many of the songs from slipping into homogenous hardcore oblivion is the glorious sonic knives tossed about by their guitarist, Agata. Utilizing his obvious legion of effects pedals to their full effect Agata forces moans, howls, stutters, and stammers from his instrument, peppering the record with some of the most interesting and confounding guitar sounds on a record in recent memory.

The rhythm section also serves as an important anchor here, with the rhythmic pulses shot with enough ease by the bassist and drummer to make most bands wince. There is no doubt that Yasuko O’s screams would fall flat were it not for her freight train of a rhythm section.

At this point you should have noticed that there has been nary a mention of a single song title throughout this review, and here’s the point: Each of these songs have been expertly constructed, reach at least a modicum of tonality, and are executed with surgical precision. Every song is a solid piece of work that gives an air of consummate professionalism. Despite all of this, none of the songs manage anything beyond a passing interest. Herein we have the Rush Syndrome: A band of extremely talented musicians who manage to make precise and pleasing music that, in the end (despite a few select tracks), is not exactly memorable.

After all of this, you are left with a record full of passable songs executed to near perfection by a band of talented musicians. That said, you may not be able to remember a single melody to any one of these songs after a week, but maybe that’s not the point.