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| The best drummer in rock is Dale Crover. Not some Mastodon hairball, Mars Volta speed merchant or the Foo Fighters' singer. No. It's Dale Crover from the Melvins. Listen to the wonky strut of ‘Let It All Be’ from The Bootlicker or the seismic pulse of ‘Boris’ from Bullhead and you'll hear that classic pre-metal trinity of Baker, Bonham and Ward with an extra measure of prehistoric muscle. And as an aesthetic bonus, he's a fat guy rarely seen out of gym shorts. |
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(A) Senile Animal's stroke of genius is to pair Crover with another drummer. As on the recent Fantomasmelvins Big Band tour, where he sparred with Slayer's legendary Dave Lombardo, Crover's pushed to new depths of intensity. The drummer in question here is Coady Willis, half of Big Business. Their other member, Jared Warren, fills the recently vacated bassist role. It's still not clear why the Melvins shed bassists like snake skin, but maybe that's what keeps them fresh twenty years into their career.
A little context: the band re-recorded their 1993 classic Houdini this year, and fittingly this record sees them return to that era's pummelling grunge sound. What's absent though is the experimental jibber-jabber that's both graced and marred their output since then. More cerebral fans may be disappointed that (A) Senile Animal doesn't really showcase the Melvins' intelligence or creative scope. You won't find lengthy atmospherics, manipulated voices or tricky time changes here. You'd better be sitting down for this one: there aren't even any guitar solos. And while we're at it, the songs all hover around mid tempo and there's no obvious highlight of the order of ‘It's Shoved’ or ‘Leeech’. But that's hardly the point. In a career boasting some enormously sludgy grooves, this record boasts their most humungous yet. Case in point: ‘A History Of Bad Men,’ whose elephantine swagger stretches out into the horizon, swamped in rumbling toms and swirling cymbals. And just because they've left the prog at home doesn't mean they're afraid to piss about. ‘Blood Witch’'s stuttering first half gives way to the oddest kind of insectoid clattering, while another song erupts into handclaps and somehow it sounds like the most natural thing in the world. There's so much impressive drum work here that the songs can't contain it, with mammoth drum-offs spilling into the silence between tracks.
All this talk of the drummers is a bit of a disservice to King Buzzo. He's on full Paul Stanley mode throughout, roaring through lyrics that vary in degrees of intelligibility and stupidity (the dumbest being ‘The Hawk’'s opening cry of "Hey there, Mister Nightmare!"). Also present is that trademark guitar tone that grinds like tectonic plates, merging with the bass in a hot swamp of low end frequencies. But this isn't Buzzo and Warren's album and they know it. They keep things relatively simple and leave Crover and Willis room to spark off each other in the best drum duels you'll hear this - or any - year. |
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| Mat Croft - 8/10 |
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Name:
Lex Luther Vandross
| Date:
09/11/06 | Reply
Very good review, I agree with it entirely, however there is in fact a short guitar solo of approximately 8 seconds in length towards the beginning of track 7. Good work
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Name:
Mat Croft
| Date:
28/11/06 | Reply
Woops! I'll eat my words with a slice of humble pie, seasoned with the salt of my tears. You have the ears of a hawk my friend.
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