Review: “You Exist Because We Allow It” by Melting

“The title says it all. This record is relentless, both sonically and in its themes—absolute control, or the lack thereof. Refusing to be pigeon holed was the catalyst for the direction of this EP. We pulled from doom, sludge, hardcore, black, and death metal, but still kept it under the metalcore umbrella. Putting a ribbon on this whole project was a bit chaotic but that’s part of its charm to us. We want to push against what our contemporaries think is the “right thing to do” and just make whatever the fuck we want. If it’s heavy, sick. If it’s melodic, sick. If it’s a 40 second doom section in the middle of a metalcore song, sick. Enjoy it, or don’t. We don’t care.” ~ Melting

The story goes that after announcing themselves to an unsuspecting world last summer with twin track effort “Modern Human Complex“, Melbourne Australians Melting caught the attention of Greyscale Records, the label home of such household names as Alpha Wolf, Make Them Suffer and Diamond Construct to name but a few. The pair entered into a partnership, inking a deal in blood for a debut EP titled “You Exist Because We Allow It” before being thrust into the lime light with shows in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney opening for Thornhill on the “Bodies” tour in March.

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Alex Bertuna (Earthender) at Little Dog Audio, the six track affair gets underway with “Unwavered“, a bouncy track laced with heavy staccato riff breaks and pulsating rhythms, that fall somewhere in the space between the Knocked Loose and 156/Silence brands of Metallic Hardcore. Cutting from eerie moments to glitchy ones overlayed by samples builds an air of tension you could cut with a knife, the harsh vocals singeing of hairs on the back of the neck as they cut against the abrasive guitars. Increasing the tempo an the intensity “874” spirals out of the chamber towards its intended victim with lethal accuracy, contrasting fleeting melancholic moments of aching atmosphere with thunderous riffs from thick gauged strings and pummelling percussion. The two extremes work surprisingly well within in the confined space of just a couple of minutes, introducing a new sonic texture without taking away of of the energy or momentum. Perhaps that was by design as “Guided By Hand Ov Witch And Corvid” muses on that aching melody during a caustic first verse before the distorted, down tuned guitars offer a fleeting yet crushing sonic break. More melody then makes way for blast beats that cut Post-Hardcore against Black Metal and while such extreme contrasts shouldn’t work in theory, somehow Melting manage to carry it off in sublime style, as if opposing forces can indeed attract each other.

After such a diverse offering “Into The Suffer” dials things back with a more direct cut that finds the band going straight for the jugular from the get go. Punishing rhythms will turn sweaty bodies into blood bags for the bursting in mosh pit, the screamed vocals either side of a couple of heavy hitting chugging riffs in the centre making this one a bite of delight. Eighty three second blunt force trauma “Oblivion” feels like it could easily go around another verse and chorus, the razor sharp Groove laden riffs sublime in their sample wrapped beauty. It might not quite be blink and you miss it territory but it’s getting close. Slowing things down a notch for a descent into darkness “Perhaps This Is Hell“, Melting take melancholic melodies to a new realm of pain by incorporating heavier moments to represent the push and pull of raw emotion. An assault on the senses that will leave you reflecting on what you just heard, it’s a final note on a record that is both compact and yet diverse, pushing the boundaries of what Metallic Hardcore is known for. It’s certainly going to be interesting to hear where Melting go from here because this is surprisingly well accomplished given their apparent relative inexperience [8/10]

Track Listing

1. Unwavered
2. 874
3. Guided By Hand Ov Witch And Corvid
4. Into The Suffer
5. Oblivion
6. Perhaps This Is Hell

“You Exist Because We Allow It” by Melting is out 2nd May 2025 via Greyscale Records and is available over at bandcamp