Album Review: Melvins - Thunderball
Reviewed by Patrick O'Reilly
With a legacy within the underground to rival the size of their idols KISS in the mainstream, the Melvins have consistently produced quality music to challenge and excite. This incarnation of the band, known as ‘Melvins 83’ features Buzz Osbourne and original Melvins drummer Mike Dillard (the 83 referring of course to the year when the band was founded). This time however they are joined by friends, namely noise artists Ni Maitres and Void Manes.
This coming together of the Melvins and noise is not surprising, the band have often flirted with the genre and straddle the same territory of Avant garde from time to time. On this album the coming together adds real tone and texture to proceedings, providing an album well worth listening to.
Frantic opener ‘King of Rome’ has punk vibes and attitude whilst third track ‘Short Hair with a Wig’ is the perfect amalgamation of classic bass heavy, slow Melvins riffage with digital noise blurs in the background... a classic in the making.
Epic track ‘Victory of the Pyramids’ combines both of these worlds to create a monster... fast and discordant at first then settling into slow and heavy rumblings.
The only criticism I have of this album is that with only five tracks it seems a bit short, longer tracks do mitigate this somewhat but the whole thing left me craving more! I think this is more indicative of how memorable and enjoyable the album is though and not a true criticism.
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