Melanie Friske and The Detroit Sub Rev

With an influence of late seventies, early eighties hair rock bands, MF and the Detroit Sub Rev let their hair down and invite you to grab a case of beer and sit. The songs mainly wade through mid-tempo territory leaving room for a few to be re hauled. There are great kick offs to songs that are well underway and a couple of great songs that are pretty fleshed out.

The intro song "Happy Day" is a nice folk starter that kindly scolds a sanctimonious friend. "Purgatory" rocks loud and crunchy like the band should. Its raw-garage country tinge flaunts a needed change of tempo and texture. It stands out next to the other tracks. It's got a great break down where the tempo changes up and vocalist Melanie stretches her vocal chops in a different range- and sounds great.

"GBF" is another point of interest for its folk arrangement and even a little Latin breakdown after every verse. If it had xylophones accompanying the guitar it could easily sound like it's from south of the border. It's a pretty sexy song. Melanie's vocals tip off on the jazzy side as she stretches the syllables of darkly comedic lyrics.

"Cleanse My Soul" is a slow dirty rocker that has the potential to really funk quite a bit. The bv's are great and the filter on the voice adds a nice touch. The guitar is great!! The song is a real grinder.(slow it down a little more and really use those tom drums!!!)
Other songs have a great amount of potential "Wasting My Everything" has great vocals but the music needs to be kicked up a notch with more prominent breaks and a quicker tempo. The vocals sound mad but the music lethargic. Crank it sister!!! You're pissed!!!!

"Aspiration Frustration" suffers from the same thing. It sounds a bit anemic but just needs to be pumped up a bit with a quicker tempo and the tom drums need to be brought up more. Even if they are isolated in a breakdown of the chorus. When I hear them in my headphones switching channels they're begging to be heard more.

The closer, "Disillusioned" is a great concluding track. It's a nice intimate track with great vocals and well written lyrics that lulls. I hear it starting off acoustically and building to what they have laid down on the demo. Add some tambourine or bring up the hi-hats. There's some great material here that just needs to be played with. Hopefully some more studio time will allow for that. They cite Thin Lizzy as an influence. Check out "It's Only Money" for some great examples of arrangements and breakdowns. - Future:Primitive Music Blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUBnDqopSk8 - Michael Morgenstern

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHBKP7q5wU4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf8v9Qm6we0 - MF