Monks of Mellonwah – Neurogenesis EP

Release Date: May 24th, 2012
Reviewed By Court Smoots

There’s something about Monks of Mellonwah that feels familiar to me, something that reminds me of the 90’s… though not in a good way.

There’s a very heard feel to their sound, and that’s never a good place to start when you’re a supposed buzz-band (cringe inducing term) on the brink of “breakout” success. Take the phrase “You’ve gone now, to California” in the pre-chorus of their song Neurogenesis for example, it feels placed, staged for impact, and I just honestly don’t believe it to be true. Now I’m not saying music can’t be fictitious, there’s nothing wrong with spinning a good yarn, but that said, there’s also nothing good about Monks of Mellonwah’s music.

I hate to be a hater, but I knew almost immediately upon clicking on the first track of M of M (I refuse to type that ridiculous name again)’s new EP Neurogenesis that it didn’t hold up to my own personal musical standard’s. It’s just such repetitive rock, it’s as if they’ve played every Silverchair song ever recorded, over and over again until their ears bled, then rearranged said chords until they came up with something almost silverchair-esq, though not quite as impressive (circa ’95 of course, you can keep everything after Frogstomp).

But hold fast Monks of Mellonwah (okay I typed it again, whatever.) there’s still a chance for you to pull this plane out of its nosedive. Do yourselves a favor and start branching out, start listening to the obscure, not just the standard, and start challenging yourselves as musicians. You owe it to… well, yourselves… and of course Silverchair.