Cage The Elephant – Melophobia

A compelling exercise in growth...

“We’re five people fighting for our own ideologies of good music,” said Cage The Elephant’s drummer Jared Champion last year. “We clash stylistically, and sometimes even personally.”

There’s a moment near the end of album opener ‘Spiderhead’ where the beauty of this conflict becomes crashingly and satisfyingly apparent. And the rest of ‘Melophobia’, the Kentucky band’s third album, follows the same mantra: that conflict is beautiful.

Produced by Jay Joyce, also behind 2011’s ‘Thank You, Happy Birthday’ LP, these 10 songs display a band very much aware of its own identity, yet restlessly attempting to dismantle it. The result is a compelling exercise in growth.

7/10

Words: Trace William Cowen

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