Melodic Meltdown - Second Skin (CD)

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Well, I tried hard but in the end I couldn't resist skipping songs. And when such a thing happens while listening a CD, it can't be good, right? Too bad since I had all the good vibes for this one. Unfortunately Melodic Meltdown failed to deliver what their impressive biography mentioned.
Melodic Meltdown is actually the vessel of virtuoso guitarist Michael Sobygge. The first form of the band took place back in 1995. Since then countless (well, almost) lineup changes and disbands took place but it seems that somehow this band has managed to keep going on. Michael in the meantime also released some solo albums (but I never had the chance to listen to any of them). This CD has been released back in 2003 and so far the band has also released an EP in 2005 (hold on, a review is also coming for this one).
Sadly no mater how good the guitar work is (not only is it good - I can say it is exceptional), there are many elements that seem to go in a wrong way in this CD. First of all the vocal performance is too weak. This power / traditional / neoclassic hybrid the band works on needs a kick-ass vocalist, someone that can stand next to the guitar work. Unfortunately Morten is not such a vocalist. Also the production is close to disaster. Though clean enough, the sound is too crispy, fails to carry melodies or the distortion demanded from time to time.
The outcome is… that by the end of track nine, I was praying for this album to end. And sadly I had to listen to it at least a couple more times in order to do this review. Melodic Meltdown needs a lot more work…