Whatever’s left that hasn’t yet been said about Melvins, I don’t know what it is. Good and bad, they’ve been polarizing audiences since the mid-‘80s, and with The Bride Screamed Murder (Ipecac), which kicks off with a killer doomed-out riff and moves into percussive jaunts and military march cadences, I’m going to guess that’s not going to end anytime soon. At this point, you probably already know who they are and you probably already know how you feel about them. Guitarist/vocalist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover are still working with drummer Coady Willis and bassist/backing vocalist Jared Warren of Big Business, and if you dug this incarnation’s previous studio full-lengths (as opposed to the countless singles, live albums, limited releases, splits and others that pop up), namely 2006’s (A) Senile Animal and 2008’s Nude with Boots, you’re going to dig The Bride Screamed Murder as well.

That’s not to say the seminal Aberdeen, Washington, outfit is treading water either creatively or performance wise. The magic of Melvins has always been Osborne’s ability to keep the songwriting fresh and maintain the experimental edge – at times balancing the output in one direction or the other as regards accessibility – and The Bride Screamed Murder is no exception, from the aforementioned call and response of opener “The Water Glass,” on through the memorable runs in “Pig House” and the warning “Don’t look down/You might regret it” in album highlight “Electric Flower.” Their take on The Who’s “My Generation?” (here with an added question mark as though they’re not certain whether or not it is) is bound to surprise some, but it’s not without precedent when you consider their take on Kiss’ “Going Blind” from 1993’s Houdini. “Evil New War God,” being the first cut to follow “The Water Glass,” is a decent example of what The Bride Screamed Murder’s more “straightforward” – this is still the Melvins we’re talking about – material has to offer.

As for what that might be, it’s an odd way Osborne and Crover have settled into the lineup with Willis and Warren in that they don’t seem to have settled at all. The energy here is high throughout, to the point that even the acapella vocals and slowed-down drones of closer “P.G. x 3” don’t feel the slightest bit out of place or even like a shift in overall goal. From my personal listening experience, this is a change from Nude with Boots, which sounded tired and stagnant. Where (A) Senile Animal had a number of memorable tracks and the novelty of being the first output with two drummers, etc., Nude with Boots didn’t feel like it was adding anything to the mix. The Bride Screamed Murder does, and it’s not just cool experiments that pay off like the grooving angularity, organ and high-pitched vocal quirk of “I’ll Finish You Off.” The over-arching feel of the band is one of a group of players who are completely at home in each other’s styles and performances. Knowing the Melvins, these are dangerous words for how long it’ll last, but at least as regards the 2010 full-length, it’s made for a vital listen.

All this, as well as the strangely/soothingly vocal heavy “Hospital Up” and the thoroughly percussed, thickened semi-thrash of “Inhumanity of Death,” measure in negative numbers when weighed against pre-listening prejudice, however. If you don’t care for Melvins, The Bride Screamed Murder isn’t going to make you a convert. And, to be frank, nothing is, so you might as well give up. Likewise, if you’re a high priest in the Church of Buzzo, my telling you that some songs on this record feel better realized and executed than others is a waste of my time. Better for me to sit back and say, “Hey, the Melvins have a new record,” and watch the world burn around it from the tactical nuclear launch of opinions on both sides. Though they’re never short on sonic surprises, that The Bride Screamed Murder finds the Melvins as polarizing as ever is as expected as it gets. Nonetheless, if you’ve ever had an inkling that perhaps giving them an honest shot is something you might consider doing some distant day in a far-off land, etc., etc., and you haven’t actually gotten around to doing so, you could do much worse than to use The Bride Screamed Murder as a launch point for working your way back through their massive catalog.

Melvins on MySpace

Ipecac Recordings

Tags: Aberdeen, Ipecac, Melvins, Washington

This entry was posted on Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 3:19 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.