A real face-melter. It'll tear your face off." Wheeler wrote all of the songs except "Meltdown" – which he co-wrote with Hatherley – and "Out of the Blue", which he co-wrote with bassist Mark Hamilton. Dracula is a reoccurring lyrical theme on the album. The opening track "Meltdown" is a political piece that channels the sound of AC/DC and Foo Fighters. Wheeler wrote it after witnessing a peace demonstration and Hatherley wrote the middle eight guitar riff. "Orpheus" switches between indie pop and heavy rock, and the verses include Wheeler's 1970s metal-style guitar riffs. Wheeler said the lyrics were taken from the eponymous Greek myth and is about the death of his friend's mother. "Evil Eye" is a slower track on which Wheeler and Hatherley trade vocals that tells the story of a female suitor. It features a backwards message that says "She's giving me the Evil Eye. Suck Satan's cock." Wheeler said "Clones" is about the homogenization of mankind, and is "a rant about some person who's let you down, a person you thought was different and they turn out to be the same as everyone else". The song has an instrumental break section that was influenced by the works of Rage Against the Machine. "Starcrossed" is a string-led power ballad that is reminiscent of the material on Free All Angels. It re-tells the story of Romeo and Juliet. "Out of the Blue" evokes "Song 2" (1997) by Blur and "Surf Wax America" (1994) by Weezer. Wheeler said the final version of "Out of the Blue" is the result of merging two separate songs. "Renegade Cavalcade" features staccato guitar parts during the verses. "Detonator" utilizes the talking guitar in vein of Peter Frampton during the verse sections; it is followed by the Foo Fighters-esque "On a Wave". "Won't Be Saved" is similar to the band's earlier material and was nearly left off the final version of the album but the band's agent persuaded them to keep it. "Vampire Love", which has Placebo-like lyrics and a cello part played by Oli Kraus, closes the album. Release On 29 January 2004, Meltdown was announced for release later that year. "Clones" was released as the album's lead single on 25 February as a download-only single. The song's music video, which was filmed in the basement of a house in London, was directed by Jeff T. Thomas and premiered on MTV2 on 26