Mélancolia Announce Sophomore Record RANDOM.ACCESS.MISERY Alongside Visceral Single ‘ALL_IS_RUST’

After a debut performance on Thy Art Is Murder’s Decade Of Hate tour, Melbourne’s Mélancolia released a monumental first record with HissThroughRottenTeeth in 2023. I scored it a 10/10 for precise musicianship, powerful themes and unique listening experience. Since then, Mélancolia have shared the stage with incredible acts such as Cattle Decapitation, Fallujah, and Ingested to name a few. I was keeping a keen ear on their overseas exploits, because I heard tell of a new song performing well on stage. Band member social media buzz and a clever phone line campaign, led me to access the misery. Everyone will get that chance with the release of sophomore album RANDOM.ACCESS.MISERY this August. Better yet, we have a taste of what’s to come in the form of newly released single ‘ALL_IS_RUST’.

For music video enjoyers, a new logo flashes across the screen as you see the band in a eerie white getup. The new era of Mélancolia is here. Alex Hill’s piercing and at times fast paced high screams are a constant string of brutality. The evolution in vocals is already at play, as Mason Page keeps things punchy with blast beats and chaotic grooves on the kit. Unlike the first album, we have Toby Turner on board with bass duties. The catchy thumping melodies connect seamlessly with the haunting and blistering guitars of Joshua Taafe and Billy Morris. The focus shifts to Alex as he exclaims “will you leave in a bodybag?”, right before a soul smashing breakdown knocks me out of my seat.

On the track and album, Alex states:

"While there has been a departure from straight up deathcore, we feel this song sounds even more representative of Mélancolia, and after testing the waters debuting this song in Europe earlier this year we can confirm this one is already a crowd favourite.

‍We are bringing a fresh sound to an otherwise stale scene, you will not hear what we are doing from anyone else. We are setting the trend as we set the bar for modern heavy music.

Love us or hate us, you will fucking remember us."

If ‘ALL_IS_RUST’ is a cohesive meld of the elements that define Mélancolia, I am so excited to see what the rest of this record holds for listeners and how the band have grown since HissThroughRottenTeeth.

Their evolved sound – which they describe as “Blackened Nu Metal” – shall make it’s mark when RANDOM.ACCESS.MISERY releases via Greyscale Records and Nuclear Blast on Friday August 29th. Don’t miss your chance to see this new material’s live Australian debut, when Mélancolia support Thy Art Is Murder across regional Australia in June and July.

Words by Tyler Lubke.

Stream ‘ALL_IS_RUST’ and pre-order RANDOM.ACCESS.MISERY here