### The Melvins: (A) senile animal

#### 23/08/13 || The Duff

When posting on our official forums a topic encouraging thought that The Melvins are the greatest band in the world, the general response was ambivalence; the opinion that most tied in with my own was that the band has released some incredible material along with some lacklustre. I’ve skipped a couple of their efforts with little thought as to what I’m missing on this premise alone, simply unwilling to take the chance as I have plenty enough grade-A Melvins in my so fucking perfect CD collection save shitty Sentenced albums – namely “Lysol”, “Stoner Witch”, “Bullhead” and the last three efforts, “(A) Senile Animal” being the first of these and possibly the band’s best effort for me.

Thing is, the recent forays into meandering garbage has been entirely removed for 100% stoner/punk/bizarre-o goodness, vocals that dig deep into the mind with a mixture of unusual and hook-laden, as well as first appearance for new members from Big Business, giving rise to a four piece, one guitar, one bass and two drummers. The sound isn’t expectedly huge, though; it sounds like Dale Crover and Coady Willis have been synced into each other and if you’ve witnessed live footage you’ll know they are just as tight on stage.

“(A) Senile Animal” rocks from start to finish and is up there with “Lysol” and “Stoner Witch”. This is, for want of a better tag, purely great head-banging, energetic rock and roll. The guitars are fuel-buzzed and angry, dirty, messy, the vocals and lyrics sincere, soul-piercing, lively, fun and dare I say a little vitriolic, and the production, despite what I’ve said about two drummers providing little more than one, is like crystal-grunge; just sludgy enough for the ‘garage-band’ sound the Melvins have always meant to uphold, morally speaking, but enough to suggest they’ve been around the block enough times to generate revenue.

As for individual tracks, this record boasts both classic and new-age Melvins; groove, grunge, gunge, swing and doom. The mix between dirge and energy has been finely struck, and thankfully there is no time-wasting on this record, no unnecessary nonsense that to some might be a staple to any Melvin’s album, to others and myself included (I do believe us in the majority) an hindrance to one of punk/rock n’ roll’s most memorable, valuable assets.

In conclusion, if you were to take all of this band’s finest works, this album included, even with the shitty stuff they are still one of the greatest bands of this planet. They are like Neurosis, I only need to hear their name uttered before wishing I had their entire discography at my fingertips – no band mixes energy, attitude, riffs and happiness quite so brilliantly and yet almost completely unawares at the same time; “(A) Senile Animal” is just pure all-out rockin’, as a Melvins album should be, and one of the greatest records of the new Millennium.

- Information
- Released: 2006
- Label: Ipecac Records
- Website: www.themelvins.net
- Band
- Buzz Osborne: vocals, guitars
- Dale Crover: drums
- Jared Warren: bass
- Coady Willis: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. The Talking Horse
- 02. Blood Witch
- 03. Civilized Worm
- 04. A History of Drunks
- 05. Rat Faced Granny
- 06. The Hawk
- 07. You’ve Never Been Right
- 08. A History of Bad Men
- 09. The Mechanical Bride
- 10. A Vast Filthy Prison