A Callback to the Glory of ‘80s Rock
Megadose, the indie-rock group out of Seattle, accomplishes something special on this latest album of theirs, Heating Up. With the constant support of a wicked guitar that varies in its sound on each track, listeners are brought back to the steady-sounding rock of the last few decades of the 20th century, and it’s a whole lot of fun.
Considering the enthusiasm present throughout and the fact that this is Megadose’s second full-length album, Heating Up is an apt title, one that should not be taken lightly. This humble group truly is catching fire, and they seem to outdo themselves song after song.
“Silver Cup” is the album’s grand opening, and it’s seemingly straight out of the end credits of a movie, sentimental in its nature. Becoming balladic through its lyrics, this one creates a timeline, detailing the youth of its singer, and becomes a celebration of the mundane, too, like getting on the bus to go to school each morning. It works great for the sake of the album because it establishes the album as a collection of consistency, art that grounds its listeners and actually commentates on the workings of the world it’s now a part of.
If it weren’t clear already, instrument-wise, the guitar is what makes Heating Up absolutely tremendous. Sometimes it’s moaning, as in “Rock Yer Head,” or it’s grumpy and angry. Other times, it’s whining, roaring like a rabid beast ripped out of the wild, which is how it sounds in “Pig.” Regardless of its mood, the guitar always sounds awesome, and it’s a complimentary part of every last song here.
Even with a fickle, chaotic guitar, there’s still plenty of room for multiple songs to feel peaceful and calming, however. On “Summer Fest,” listeners finally have the opportunity to catch a low-key vibe, which might make them imagine themselves in the midst of a group of people gathered around a bonfire. Imagery, too, thus, makes this track shine.
Aside from the parallel nature of the album’s sound, and speaking more to the lyrical content of it, many of the verses heavily rely on innocence and bliss. “Hey 911” addresses those everyday tasks that all kinds of people need to manage. Megadose sings, “I just hit up Costco and we’re out of paper tissue,” which is followed by bizarre lyrics about the floor turning to lava. It’s moderately eccentric, but waywardly warranted because this album’s more or less all about a sound as splendid as the summer, one that doesn’t connote anything too fanciful.
“Tahuya Cruisin’” is reminiscent of a summer jam of the Sixties, maybe by the rock band that most people are familiar with: the Beach Boys. It’s vibey, as fresh as one’s cruising down an open road on some dawning avenue, windows down, wind blowing through their hair. It’s smooth and catchy, a love letter to those places that just get to one’s heart. It’s telling listeners about the memories one might remember of a specific location in a particular point in time, celebrating them all.
Lyrically, and unlike the album’s overall sound, by no means are the songs here parallel to one another in any way. There’s a distinct shift in all of them; they accentuate the point in art wherein a group, like Megadose, succinctly captures the composition of such a vast pool of creatively woven tales about wherever their imagination might have taken them, making it all appealing. They’re all over the place, yet they still somehow approach and linger near the border of beauty.
From the album’s very first minute to its last, Megadose simply takes one along for the journey. There’s no clear direction, but audiences are still offered chances to extract some kind of substance, something tangible, out of any bit of it. However, obtaining something like that is totally determined by the individual, by whatever meter they use in order to digest musical art.
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