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