‘Melotronical’ is the third album by Hugo and Jessica and is a conceptual piece revolving around the evolution of an electronic Molecule into a living breathing Entity. This entity, experiences several stages of life, goes through all emotions, love, hate, fear, happiness... The track list is arranged according to this evolution, and one can have a feel of each stage just by reading each song title, listening to the songs and lyrics. The finale starts with Dimension Crusher, when all hope is lost and a new Universe is idealized through Reprogramming. Me, I just love the idea of taking the noun ‘Mellotron’ and turning it into a verb. The artwork for this album is far more dramatic than previously, and that fits in with the music which takes the last album and raises the intensity more than just one notch. In many ways it sounds as if Hugo has been tuning into Devin Townsend as when he rocks it out there is a real wall of sound that is so reminiscent of the mad Canadian’s best work.
Hugo is also providing vocals here where the storyline suits, while Jessica doesn’t allow the music to overpower her and manages to stay sweet and controlled, yet with emotion and passion. It is interesting to compare this with ‘Poles’ as in three short years the band have moved from something that is really enjoyable to something that is absolutely indispensible – quite a shift. Instead of being music that is worth searching out it is instead an album that belongs in every prog/symphonic/goth metal lover’s collection. It is impossible to fault this album and of no surprise to me at all that of the five reviews posted on www.rateyourmusic.com, only one of them doesn’t give it five stars. An awesome album – you owe it to your ears.
