Review: “A Pathetic Excuse For A Life” by Melting

“This first year of You Exist Because We Allow It has been absolutely nuts! It’s hard to put into words how full on it has been. All we know is that we are so grateful to have done all the things we have already done in such a short period of time. Camp Melting is firing on all cylinders, and that’s a nice feeling, especially with so much coming up!

The EP as a whole tackles some very personal, dark and heavy topics for Xavier, but I wrote ‘The Sword ‘to be something of a ‘stop letting life happen to you’ kind of thing. Stop begging for guidance, figure it out yourself, hold the f*ckin sword. The way we see it – every song is pointed at a different kind of person that can make your life feel like hell. There’s an undertone of overcoming it running throughout though.

Clay and Angie at The Brain Studios in Sydney saw our vision completely and absolutely nailed the feeling we wanted for this record. A record that gives you no rest, just bludgeons you for the entire runtime and then stops. It somehow feels faster, but also sludgier than our last release at the same time. We considered each other’s influences a lot more with this release and that really shines when we’re playing the music live.” ~ Melting

To say it’s been a whirlwind of a past twelve months for Melbourne Australian Metal heads Melting is perhaps the understatement of the year. After building some incredible momentum with a two track release in 2024, they inked a deal with Greyscale Records for the 2025 release of debut EP “You Exist Because We Allow It“. That was so well received it opened the floodgates, allowing them to share stages with King 810, Malevolence, Alpha Wolf, The Gloom In The Corner, Thornhill and Bloom to name but a few. Now they return with another collection of tunes, exploring subjects like long-lasting psychological impact of abuse, tracing the lingering trauma and paranoia that can persist even after distancing…

The darkness begins with the brutal assault on the senses that is “God Driven Fear“, feral vocals and rampaging blast beats rising from feedback with so fast it will give you a jump scare on the first few spins. What happens next is absolute genius as the band progressively slow the sonic oblivion down so that by the end of the ninety seven seconds they’ve almost reached Downtempo Deathcore pacing. There are undeniable flavours of Knocked Loose at the hands of Will Putney in that opening track, the sheer intensity of the violent turbulence being as captivating as a white knuckle ride that leaves you gripping the pillow tight.

Then comes “Glare“, a Metallic Hardcore onslaught that is full throttle and all caffeine with riffs to bring out the two steppers as the blood and venom spitting vocals that hit with enough force to put a hole in your chest. Its one that will have you reaching for a magnifying glass and the lyric sheet in order to decipher the code once the headbanging is over, the bleak lyrical narrative so dark it will have you concerned for your health.

Each of these short, sharp shocks are the metaphorical equivalent of 50,000 volts from a taser running through your system, the bands blink and you’ll miss it approach at times making the tracks bleed into each other to form one giant homogeneous mass. That’s by no means a bad thing, although it might stop you from being able to name three tracks when someone shoves a microphone in your face because you’re wearing a Melting t-shirt. The breakdowns pile up dangerously high with the punchy sixty six seconds of “The Sword“, the angry anthem so damn good you’re going to want them to play it at least three times back to back live to give you time to crowd surf to the front and get a high five before its over.

There are a couple of longer cuts, with the three and a half minute approaching “Arrogant Fool” another absolutely savage affair. It benefits from having three distinctive voices, the trademark shrill bark running up against some brutal death growls before a surprising clean moment as Xavier Morris pushes himself as close to the limits as he can get. Sonically the cut is nothing short of a relentless beating, the mix being nailed so the drums sound crisp and clean while the guitar tone is next realm of existence madness. Interlude piece “…” provides a moment of dark and sinister atmosphere with an eerie spoken word as it introduces title track “A Pathetic Excuse for a Life” in style. Bombastic rumbling bass, staccato riff breaks and a whirlwind of percussive battery are the order of the day, Morris venting with cathartic screams throughout the title track. It’s not so much a grand finale, more of a grand piano landing on your skull after being dropped from the 13th floor of an apartment building… resistance? futile! [8.5/10]

Track Listing

1. God Driven Fear
2. Glare
3. The Sword
4. Arrogant Fool
5. …
6. A Pathetic Excuse for a Life

“A Pathetic Excuse For A Life” by Melting is out 29th May 2026 via Greyscale Records