Murder By Millions – Melancholy Shore

Melancholy. Pretty spot on when I start to think back about the first days of this band. The local scene was way more interesting back then. There were shows all the time at the local youth center (which recently was bulldozed down, sadly without a proper replacement) and we saw each other all the time. Not so much these days.

The story of Murder By Millions starts with Anubiz. Locally a pretty big band. Hell, Anubiz was one of my favorite bands at the time. When that band quit most band members went on to play in Murder By Millions. In time they had some lineup changes (adding Rob on vocals, Luuk (ex-Line Of Defense a.o.) on drums and Ruud (ex-Stab Back, Enemy Ground) on guitar) and really found their own sound. A sound that, to be honest, never really was my cup of tea… When they started out I just started to drift away from the metalcore genre I once dearly loved. I mean, I still love to put up my old Arkangel & Born From Pain records now and then, but people (and taste) change. They did however blow me away every single time with their stage presence. They’re a really good live band.

And now they asked me to review their latest output ‘Melancholy Shore’. With it came a really open and honest letter explaining the whole process they went through with the record. A record that was in the making for 2 years (time flies, I know all about that now…). A record that they did totally DIY, every aspect of it. Which I think is awesome.

Murder By Millions got better with each release and this is no exception. While it’s a really heavy record, there’s plenty of melody. Never a bad thing if you ask me. To give you an idea they state Mastodon, Crowbar, Modern Life Is War, Down and Snow Patrol & Sinéad O’Connor as influences. Not exactly your average metalcore band influences right? I don’t know if you should call them metalcore anyway, maybe it’s plain metal. I don’t know, I don’t really care either to be honest. You purists can fight it out amongst yourselves. I do know you can rip apart skulls on this and that Rob’s voice sounds better than ever on this record. He sounds pretty damn brutal for a cheerleader 😉 (Sorry Rob, had to put that in)

Melancholy Shore is a true full length album, clocking in around 50 minutes. There are 11 songs on there and with song lengths between 1:46 and 7:38 they keep things pretty interesting. In the letter that came with the record they talk about the production (which is a co-production between Tommie Bonajo and guitarist Ruud) and the friction between both visions. Like I said, it’s pretty honest. The result is a rather modern sounding record, without sounding too slick. It suits the music nicely. Oh and I need to mention the artwork, nice photographs by guitarist Joris Lamers used in a design by Rutger Dragstra.  No lyrics though, and that’s pretty lame. There’s room enough for them.

‘Word on the street’ is they’re calling it quits after this, but if that’s the case they’ll leave with a record they can be proud of. A record that has been worth the wait. And while I’m not going to be listening to it to a lot myself, I can actually recommend it to anyone who’s into the heavier stuff out there. And I’m not saying that because they’re nice guys. They’ve clearly put their heart and souls into this record and it shows.

You can listen to the entire record below, and then get in touch with the band for a copy. Maybe you can change their mind.

Now how about a (final) show with all those local bands? It’s been way too long guys. Melancholy. Damn.

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