Melvins - Freak Puke

Band: Melvins
Album: Freak Puke
Genre: Experimental
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Length: 42 Minutes
Tracks: 10
Country of Origin: United States

Ladies and gentlemen, the fucking Melvins. (Or for those of you that prefer it to the tour title, Melvins "Lite") Either way you look at it, it doesn't deserve to dawn the 'Melvins' title unless Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover are involved as they always are. They get the 'Melvins Lite' moniker due to the fact that they dropped the team-up with Big Business for this album and instead, recorded with Fantomas and Mr. Bungle bassist, Trevor Dunn. The main reason I am posting this album in particular is that today marks the end of their "Melvins Lite Tour: 50 State + DC in 51 Days," which puts them in the position of new world record owners, and also leaves them extremely fucking tired. But god damn it, they did it.

Now onto the album. The Melvins have had their experimental records in the past, 'Stoner Witch', the wildly forgettable 'Prick,' and the incredibly trippy 'Stag,' but nothing amounts to the fact that in terms of experimentation, this is by far the most BIZARRE album the Melvins have ever put out. I will always think of this as the Melvins' best experimental album, seeing as I hate to even mention the morbid noise of 'Colossus of Destiny.' Let's start out by saying I've always known the Melvins for having insanely heavy (and sometimes distorted) basslines, yet this album is accompanied by Dunn playing an upright bass. Yep. That's right, an upright bass. There are some points during the album that he even uses a violin, mostly present in "Baby Won't You Weird Me Out." Both are fairly new to Melvins releases, but they really toy with experimentation here, mostly by ambiance noise.

Slight downside to the album. Unlike the previous releases with Big Business, "(A) Senile Animal," "Nude With Boots," and "The Bride Screamed Murder," Dale Crover is the only drummer on this album, yet surprisingly his drum set isn't as heavy, packed and nasty as it usually is, but it's more than likely due to a change in technique or production value.

However, Buzz's guitar tone retains its crunchy Melvinistic sound, which is mostly responsible for bringing the album "to life" as opposed to the rather nasty-ass basslines they've had previously in songs like "Night Goat" and "A History of Bad Men." Buzz's guitar hasn't really seen much prominence since the Trilogy's opener, 'The Maggot,' one of their heaviest CDs ever. However, as I said, it retains the sound that it had with the Big Business teamup albums, but this time it's much more prominent over the bass.

Favorite Tracks: Worm Farm Waltz, Leon vs. The Revolution, Let Me Roll It

Here's a little taste of Freak Puke:

Overall Rating: 4/5

Review by Paradox

Unexpect - Fables of the Sleepless Empire

Band: Unexpect
Album: Fables of the Sleepless Empire
Genre: Too many to list, I'm going to leave it at Avant-Garde + Progressive Metal

Release Date:  May, 2011

Length: 56 minutes

Tracks: 11
Country of Origin:  Canada

This was my favorite album for approximately 6 months.  For me, that is a VERY long time to hold that position.   

Unexpect manages to deliver a jaw-dropping blend of stunning composition and god-tier technical skill.  Every member of this band could easily (at least in my mind) outplay most anyone in the world with their respective instruments.  

While many modern bassists shy away from learning to play their instrument to its fullest potential, shying away and using only a string or two, ChaotH, Unexpect's bassist, instead chose to go further than the typical 4 or 5 string bass.  This man (if he's even a man at all), chooses to play a 9 string bass, and he does it with the utmost level of grace.  He manages to give this album a strong, jazzy backbone that feels nigh-unbreakable.  

The vocals are also superb.  I'm a firm believer that there isn't enough of a female presence in metal, and god, do we need to increase it.  One of the groups singers, Leïlindel, has one of the greatest voices I've ever heard.  She could sing to me about the death of my family, and I think I'd be too busy listening to actually register what she was telling me.

And then we get to some of the finer points:  this band incorporates a violin. 

I'm certain there are some people out there who are thinking, "Oh great, it's one of THOSE bands."  Give them a shot.  You'll thank me for it later.  The violin isn't over-powering like other metal bands that I've heard try to incorporate a violin.  It's definitely more of a supporting instrument in the way that it's played.  I'd say it's probably akin to having a second bassist, playing a smoother sounding instrument.

Enough about the band themselves, let's get onto the album.

The journey begins with with the track, "Unsolved Ideas Of A Distorted Guest."  This song is almost too much to handle for someone who's never listened to Unexpect before.  They follow up wisely with "Words," a deeply moving song that puts all 9 strings of ChaotH's bass to good work.  After that, we get the duo-songs, "Orange Vigilantes," and, "Mechanical Pheonix."  The two flow so well into each other that most are not even aware that the former song has ended until well into the latter.  "The Quantum Symphony" throws you into a nightmarish soundscape, and equally dark lyrics torment you in the entirety of your stay.  "Unfed Pendulum" slows things down a bit, but it remains every bit as weird and creepy.  It also features heavy use of samples to bring in a slight Noise influence.  Next, you get a 3 minutes interlude, "In the Mind of the Last Whale," before the violent exorcism that is "Silence this Parasite."  Finally, we reach the coup de grace of the album, the 3-part song(s), "A Fading Stance," "When the Joyful Dead Are Dancing," and, "Until Yet A Few More Deaths Do Us Part."  These are an intense 8 and a half minutes of the strangest love story ever told.

I get chills every time I listen to the opening bass line from "Words."  This is definitely one of my favorite albums.

My Rating:  4.75/5

http://unexpect.bandcamp.com/

Review by Ishmael

Demonic Death Judge - The Descent

Band: Demonic Death Judge
Album: The Descent
Genre: Sludge Metal / Doom Metal

Release Date:  October, 2011

Length: 59:39

Tracks: 8
Country of Origin:  Finland

Holy.
Shit.

This album is ungodly beautiful in a sinister way. First, it chews you out with Nepal, the opening song. Next, you're taken on a beautiful ride into the depths of hell on Churchburner. The Descent is kind of like a REALLY good episode of the Twilight zone episodes. Stick that in Your Pipe and Smoke It grinds you through a weird frame of mind and of a twisted sense of happiness. Green Totem kind of spirals down from there, and then some of the most impressive bass-work I've ever heard comes in the next 3 masterpieces of music, None of it, Four, and Shitgiant.

I cannot even describe how thick this guys' bass is during this album. The slightly distorted guitar on top of it scratches every nerve, but you love every second of it. The entire thing forces you into a very uncomfortable position, but it's so beautifully and masterfully done that you just love it and never want it to end. I think it may just be my new favorite album, topping even Tool's incredible Lateralus.

My rating: 5/5, I need to buy this.

http://demonicdeathjudge.bandcamp.com/album/the-descent

Review by Ishmael