From the ingredients of raw speed and shuddering low-end, few have created a hypnotic vibe quite like the Melvins.
Since their humble beginnings (which last year marked 40 years), every single stoner rock band would consider the Melvins the key influence, while the likes of Sunn O))) wouldn’t exist had it not been for the Montesano, Washington behemoth. Yes, beyond the beer, the weed and the psychedelics, the Melvins story goes beyond the realms of stoner rock and is one that is etched into folklore of noise-based music.
Led by constant tale spinner / riff doctor extraordinaire Buzz Osborne and influential drummer Dale Crover, the Melvins have been through various incarnations over the years, with the likes of current tour member Coady Willis (Big Business, High on Fire), Jared Warren (KARP, Unwound, also Big Business), Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle), Jeff Pinkus (Butthole Surfers) and Kevin Rutmanis (Tomahawk) all featuring at some point.
The current line-up sees Osborne and Crover joined by Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), and while the most ardent Melvins aficionados may vehemently deny the band has ever put a foot wrong, for those of us on the fringes, the output since 2008’s Nude with Boots could be considered rather scattergun.
2021’s Working With God wasn’t one of those alleged troughs, as the band dug deep, and what they found was some of the more spirited moments of their earlier years. This continues on Tarantula Heart, as the band marches on with some of their most bruising songs in years.
In the lead-up to its release, via the press release notes, Osborne confirmed that the recording of Tarantula Heart was approached differently to any other Melvins album. The band didn’t bring a single note of new music into the studio prior to recording. The process, consisting of Crover and Roy Mayorga (who provides dual drumming on the album) playing alongside McDonald and Osbourne, who then took the recordings and mapped out what would work from these sessions. From there, Osbourne would write more new music around these parts.
Melvins - Tarantula HeartThis new approach leads to a less pragmatic, looser representation of the band, and the results are imposing, capturing the raw psychedelic energy of the band’s watershed moments throughout the years. Alongside the ferocity and fizzy breeze blocks that made Working With God the return to form it was, Tarantula Heart sees the Melvins enter a new dawn.
From the first note of opening track, Pain Equals Funny, it confirms the Melvins are the masters of the epic opening track (sorry, Richard Dawson), not recapping past glories but shaping new ones instead.
The first five minutes of Pain Equals Funny is like being at the barrier of a Sleep gig. Towering riffs that soar with vigour. So too Osbourne’s voice, taking flight from coast to coast and sounding as vibrant as ever. While the track is broken up with the gooey psychedelic weirdness of, say, Lividity, the Melvins end the piece by moving through the gears at a speed that rivals their Houdini days. Out-of-nowhere stoner psych that lights a fire under you.
Working the Ditch follows and is all about tonality. Here the Melvins provide a barrelling surge of harmonics that thunder out of the speakers. All howls and drones, this is as raw as it gets. Unlike She’s Got Weird Arms. A fist of odd ball tunings, She’s Got Weird Arms sees the band conjuring up something that is like visiting the circus on psychedelics; off-kilter noise matching the song’s humorous namesake.
Then there’s Allergic to Food. Abstract, junkyard sonics that are an extension of the most direct moments on Bullhead (“I don’t want to talk to her / I was going to kill myself”). With the same cut and thrust, Smiler sees the band so deep in the groove that that you wonder why it all ends here; the only logical thing to do is start all over again.
While Working With God saw the Melvins catch a spark that had been fleeting for the past decade or so, Tarantula Heart goes beyond. Undoubtedly a renaissance period for the band, and with it they’ve just produced their best record in years. It really is that good.
Tarantula Heart is out Friday via Ipecac Recordings. Purchase from Bandcamp.
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