Melvins

The Bride Screamed Murder (Ipecac)

By Dana Raidt
Published: June 4th, 2010 | 7:00am

Few things in this world are as dependable as Melvins, but Dale Crover and King Buzzo’s brand isn’t the kind of predictability boring marriages and dead-end jobs are made of. Whenever the godfathers of grunge release a new album, fans know what they’re going to get, yet that doesn’t make it any less satisfying when it arrives.

The Bride Screamed Murder continues the band’s long tradition of bottom-heavy sludge rock, starting off with “The Water Glass” and “Evil New War God,” which both showcase the 2006 addition of drummer Coady Willis and bassist-vocalist Jared Warren, the duo comprising Los Angeles’ Big Business (in true Melvins fashion, Crover and Buzzo didn’t just add members—they absorbed an entire band).

Perhaps partly due to the addition of Willis and Warren, Melvins haven’t run out of ways to shake things up while never straying too far from the band’s comfort zone—something Bride does better than 2008’s Nude With Boots. The mid-tempo “Inhumanity and Death” seems like speed metal when compared to most other Melvins songs, and the Who’s “My Generation” (with a question mark added to the title) gets a creepy, slowed-down makeover. The band’s attention to melody has always been overlooked in favor of its obvious heaviness, but Bride proves once again that Melvins are capable of much more than down-tuning and drums.

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Ipecac Recordings