Meltdown (Massacre album)

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Meltdown is a live album by the avant-rock trio Massacre, released in November 2001. The band features guitarist Fred Frith, bassist Bill Laswell, and drummer Charles Hayward. It was recorded on June 17, 2001 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London during Robert Wyatt’s Meltdown Festival. The album was issued by Tzadik Records as part of the Key Series and runs 67 minutes and 33 seconds.

The music is free improvisation, built from interlocking patterns and alternating solos, with moments of loud intensity and quiet, ambient passages. Massacre produced the album themselves.

In the group’s discography, Meltdown follows Funny Valentine (1998) and precedes Lonely Heart (2007).

Reception:
- AllMusic’s Rick Anderson called the work typical group improvisation, noting Frith’s guitar on “For Good and Scatter” as gorgeous and the piece “Figure Out” for its shift from complex play to an ambient ending. He felt a few tightly composed numbers would have helped but overall found it slightly disappointing given the band’s high standard.
- The Wire’s Clive Bell described it as large-scale power improv and praised “Figure Out” for blending raw noise with a gentle, dreamlike ending.

All tracks are composed by Massacre unless otherwise noted.