(the) Melvins
Tres Cabrones
Release: 5 November 2013
The band
King Buzzo (vocals/guitar)
Dale Crover (bass)
Mike Dillard (drums)
The songs
1. Dr. Mule - 4:19
2. City Dump - 3:30
3. American Cow - 3:42
4. Tie My Pecker to a Tree - 1:03
5. Dogs and Cattle Prods - 8:58
6. Psycho-Delic Haze - 4:11
7. 99 Bottles of Beer - 1:18
8. I Told You I Was Crazy - 6:54
9. Stump Farmer - 2:22
10. You're in the Army Now - 1:10
11. Walter's Lips - 3:12
12. Stick em' Up Bitch - 4:14
(the) MELVINS - TRES CABRONES
Oh, how prolific those two are. The volume peddling dream team know as Buzz and Dale. And how greatly thankful we, their loyal flock, are for their continuous gift of the deranged monster riff. Like a city-destroying scene from a Godzilla movie they keep coming back to wreak havoc on an audio landscape. Shake things up a bit.
Coz rules are for fools, y'all.
And the rules police (actually, isn't that just the normal police? Whatever) are back at it again, this time with an old comrade in arms. Mike Dillard, original drummer from way back when in the day, rejoins to bounce the skins while Dale shifts a bit to the side for bass duties. Buzz still plays guitar. Like a motherfucker, of course. 'Tres Cabrones' has a goat on the cover. Obviously.
Right away I want to single out 'City Dump'. Sweet Moses, that's a beast of a tune. Every time I hear something by Melvins and I say to myself "That! That right there! They'll never do anything as batshit heavy as that again!" they usually hear me in their minds across the vastness of time and space and purposely set about trying to prove me wrong. Jokes on them, I don't care - I continue to be happily mistaken. This is like the Clint Eastwood of riffs, mean and moody and holding a gun. Good Eastwood, not the dude who talks to chairs. Although if you play this loud enough and constant enough then it just might drive you mad enough to start conversing with furniture too.
'American Cow' is surprisingly not about a patriotic bovine. I'll be honest, I don't really know what it's about. But I'm pretty sure it's not about that. It is however a twisted, gnarly wall of garage sludge rock noise. Plodding along at a snail's pace, and who knew that Dale could bust out that fat bass? Dude is truly multi-talented. You watch, they'll have TWO bassists or something on their next record. Pre-conceived notions of band formation? GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.
'Tie My Pecker to a Tree' is like if Melvins were asked to contribute to an early Disney short. And Walt had been up all night on Sprite and acid.
'Psychodelic Haze' is more distortion and cavernous guitar tone. Scary distortion. Casper the unfriendly distortion.
I'm also going to give a mention to the very Melvins titled 'Stump Farmer'. The central theme to any real Melvins record is weirdness vs. slight accessibility. This song is a perfect example. Great, storming, very 'metal' central riff and beat. Weird as fuck too, so mission accomplished then.
This might come across as pretty biased, but this is obviously another incredible offering from the absolute kings of the sludge riff. Quintessential Melvins, offbeat and certainly played fast and loose, but still stuffed with riffs that are suffering from gigantism in the scrotum department. The songs have balls, was what I was going for there. A lot of it has admittedly appeared in other various forms on different vinyl over the years, but let's face it - it has a sweet goat on the cover. I'm sold.
I'll close with a sample from the lyrical content of Tres Cabrones: "You're in the Army now, you have to milk a cow."
Beautiful stuff.
Written by Matt Fitton
Thanks to Monica at Speakeasy Pr and Ipecac Recordings for for sending us a promo. Much appreciated.
Buy this brilliant album from this legendary band when it comes out on November 5th 2013.
Check The Band From Links Below
http://www.themelvins.net/
http://www.melvins.com/
