The Melvins
Freak Puke

What to expect from Buzzone and company in 2012?

I mean, we're talking about a band that has cranked out more than 30 albums, hundreds of EPs, and, God only knows, how many experimental crazinesses of barely defined genres.

For the occasion, our guys tell the two Big Business from previous albums to piss off, enlist Trevor Dunn on bass, change their name to The Melvins Lite, and write tracks that feel more like jam sessions gone to hell than actual songs.

Let's be clear, the album is enjoyable, because it maintains the usual Melvins-like genuineness, despite the years of career. Genuine goofiness: "Like, let's grab the instruments, let's act like jerks and something will come out" seems to be the motto of the album.

The formula is this: hard-rock riffs (with a crisper sound than the previous record, where Buzz's six-string was like a messiah descending to earth with all the saints in a fuzz gangbang), a not-too-over-the-top drum (the previous two drummers had spoiled us), a chunky sepulchral bass, bloody strings, noises sucked from a parallel universe, sick vocals, some brass, and the usual farts, of which King is a great admirer.

Mr. Rip Off is lazy psychedelia that could easily belong on a The Piper At the Gates of Dawn written in the bowels of the earth, Leon Vs. The Revolution and the title track are two shots of hard-rock adrenaline, Let Me Roll It by good old Paul McCartney is a jewel with a hypnotic gait, while the 9 minutes and 40 seconds of Tommy Goes Berserk are pure experimentation in full Melvins style, with the guitar traveling in every direction, only to lead into a surrealist jazz finale.

So, what to expect from this little record? Nothing new, for sure. Also because in their lives Buzz and Crover (my absolute favorite drummer) have done practically everything.

The best thing is to enjoy Freak Puke looking for some healthy fun, because by now the Melvins are like that. They're the friend you hope to run into at the bar when you fancy having a good laugh, possibly with a couple of liters of beer in your belly.

They are like JURIX.