Ash, then. Probably the best singles band of the last fifteen years, if we're honest. Meltdown was bigged up by everyone in Ash as being a departure for them to a heavier direction. It turned out that, of course, it was basically pop music with louder guitars and twiddlier solos than before. But Clones stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest - it was, as described by the band themselves, 'some heavy shit'.
The near tribal drums in the tracks intro are so deep as to invoke irritable bowel syndrome in the most hardy of listeners, and then the song quite literally explodes into a riff the Muse fans wish could have been on their last two albums. All the while, Tim Wheeler's lyrics touch on what a shame it is that everyone looks the same, a feeling that can only have increased amongst people as the decade has worn on. Of course, it's still got the singalong-a-chorus that almost all Ash songs have, and it's still, in essence a pop song. But that propulsive riff lifts it above almost everything that Ash have done post-1977. It's properly, actually brilliant.
Oliver Billenness
[Spotify]
[YouTube]
[Album: Meltdown]
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