The Melvins are in the middle of their David Bowie phase, and frankly, it’s working. Of course, the “David Bowie Phase” may be characterized by an artist rapidly recording multiple releases in a single year while collaborating with a wide range of other artists to help stoke the creative fire. The David Bowie Phase might also contain the usage of a certain substance to help charge productivity, but in the Melvins case, it is unlikely as Melvins drummer Dale Crover once famously stated, “The best advice I can give to a band? Stay away from the weasel powder.”
The last album credited to “The Melvins” proper was 2010’s The Bride Screamed Murder. Since then, the group has collaborated with Trevor Dunn, their original drummer Mike Dillard, Jello Biafra, Scott Kelley, and a whole slate of other people. Each of those releases were clearly Melvins jams- heavy as hell riffage, charging tempos, and straight up weirdness- but they also bore the mark of their guest stars. Dunn’s acoustic bass was featured prominently on 2012’s Freak Puke giving the band an electric and acoustic texture at the same time. 2013’s Tres Cabrones shifted the band’s entire dynamic by moving Crover to bass, thus asking, what if the original Melvins ahd never broken up? (sorta, anyways.) Their one-off recording, with Jello, a cover of Roxy Music’s “In every dreamhouse a heartache,” produced, in my opinion, one of the best covers of all time while clearing bearing Biafra’s golden tenor.
That’s why Hold It In, the band’s umpteenth album, is so surprising. In reality, it’s a Melvins/Butthole Surfers release, featuring classic Melvs Buzz Osborne and Crover alongside B-Surfs Paul Leary and Jeff Pinkus. But, the band congeals here with such charisma that it feels like this release is either the product of a fully charged band that has been working together for decades, or, the first release from a brand new band harnessing their first flash of creative excitement...[more]
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