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Class 6(66)

Melvins: Bullhead

13/05/09  ||  Khlysty

Released: 1991

Introduction

Melvins has always been a total cipher for me. Why, you dare ask? Well, what would you call a band which “invented” a new style (that I call the “micro-Sabbath fuckola sludge-doom”) and does not have ONE fucking record that you can listen from beginning to end without at one point sighing and saying to yerself and others that “these guys are shitting me”. See, for each molten-lava-flowing-in-your-head-through-your-eyes-and-frying-your-brain riff-fest that gets you on your knees thanking Satan for HEAVY music, you get at least one noise-funny-experimental-wankery-outta-my ass piece of “music” that goes from useless to annoying to downright awful and makes you ask yourself, why such a talented band fucks its work so terribly. But, then again, if they didn’t do those things, King Buzzo, Dale Crover and their bassist-du-jour wouldn’t be the Melvins, would they? Anyway, “Bullhead” came in 1991, just after the incredibly bizarre heaviness of “Gluey Porch Treatments” and the little-less-crazy-ass “Ozma” and it shined a beacon to the hearts of all us lovers of sludgy, slow, downtuned, noisy music: yeah, the Melvins can write proper “songs”, with discernible hooks, without losing an iota of heaviness -or nutsoid bizzareness (does this word exists? And, who the fuck cares…). “Bullhead”, fruity cover aside, is a fucking monolith of heavy guitars, fuzzy bass, and cave-your-head-in drumming, as lunkheaded as it is inventive and full of ideas. Totally cool, without “experiments” (while being in and of itself completely experimental, as compared to the usual Melvins fare thus far…), it’s as bangworthy as it is headbangable.

Songwriting

9. This is where the Melvins decided to stretch out a little bit, so, instead of giving us like 178 hyper-compressed Sabbath-via-“My War”-era Black Flag songsquirts (which, I must say, was done brilliantly in “Gluey Porch Treatments” and “Ozma”), they write eight fully-formed riffathons. Generally, they remain slower that mud, but, being smart composers and great musicians, they add lots of interesting elements in their songs, be it crazy rhythmic breaks, screwy vocals, disturbing bass lines or just the power of the guitar, amplified so as to melt gray matter. They still retain the idiocynchratic 2-and-a-half-minute ethos of their previous work, but most of the songs are longer – some of them sprawling satifyingly -, giving the band time and space to display its brilliant and sometimes terrifying power.

Production

8. It seems as if the guitars come out from oozing mud, flowing through craggy rocks. The drums, though, are snappy and powerful and – wonder of wonders! – the bass is somehow audible. Yayyy!!!

Guitars

9,5. Buzzo here is in his most powerful, most creative, most fuzzed-out, most raving-mad mode EVER. Whether playing snail-pace slow, or faster licks, he seems to dominate everything. His guitar is a molten, living thing, full of menace and ugliness, spewing forth riffs that other guitarists would never even imagine in a thousant years. Other times monolithic (see “Boris”, “Ligature”), other times serpentine (“Anaconda”, “Zodiac”), he’s always on top of things, top of the game, top-dog, oh, man, so cool I wet my pants…

Vocals

8. King’s voice, nasal, screechy, screwy, more punk than Ozzy, more Kiss that Kiss the Pig, is an acquired taste. I find it fucking fine; you might find it excruciatingly annoying. But, it’s totally proper for the music the Melvins play.

Bass

8,5. Lori Lorax ain’t no Steve DiGiorgio, but she manages here to be: a) audible, even under the guitars’ slugde and fuzz and b) creative and dependable. Together with the drums, she anchors things down, even at their most extreme. So, kudos to her.

Drums

9. Dale Crover is one of the most intelligent, creative, powerful drummers ever. Listen to “Bullhead” and you’ll understand why all the praise…

Lyrics

7. “Boris likes a lot of little things to kick / Mix every single one that he could ever need / Boris feed / Let friend, spoon, friend, stone, lie”. And “Like somebody took a coathanger / Munched it and tore it from the sign / Stin…stern…st’nning / Numzph-numonh, bleeargh”. Huh?…

Cover art

8. Colors, fruit, champagne glass… The fuckers are REALLY trying to lull us into believing that this is harmless. And, then, you put the CD on and the music chomps off your head! Fuckers!!!

Logo

-. No Logo…

Booklet

5. More Melvo craziness inside…

Overall and ending rant

9. If you don’t like this record, you’re a broom. Boris kick you. Little pigs and Little Little heartleaks. Like a tee sure one lag. Broom! Yeayyyyyyy!!!!

  • Information
  • Label: Boner
  • Website: www.melvins.com
  • Band
  • King Buzzo: guitar, vocals
  • Lori Lorax: bass
  • Dale Crover: drums
  • Tracklist
  • 01. Boris
  • 02. Anaconda
  • 03. Ligature
  • 04. It’s shoved
  • 05. Zodiac
  • 06. If I had an exorcism
  • 07. Your Blessened
  • 08. Cow

Class 6(66) -reviews

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