Melvins
Hold It In

Hello friends. Welcome back to a new chapter of "the most self-indulgent band in the world that in its own way has also made history." We last left off with Tres Cabrones (2013): an album of honest goofing around with some truly respectable tracks but lots of re-recorded bits, reheated soups, and tavern songs: on drums, the guy who played with King Buzzo and Kurt Cobain in school and on bass, Dale Crover, a guy with a straight A's degree in drumming, a regular guy on bass. Before that, we had Freak Puke (2012), an album of honest goofing around with some out-of-focus ideas, psychedelic ramblings, and Trevor Dunn from Mr. Bungle on double bass, and The Bride Screamed Murder (2010), an album of honest goofing around that with some exuberant craziness completed the trio of albums featuring Big Business on bass and second drums.

Hold It In (2014) is album number 24. I think. An album of honest goofing around with Jeff Pinkus on bass and vocals and Paul Leary on guitar and vocals: two members of the Butthole Surfers, not just any band. Obviously, the result is beautiful, it's messy, it's fun, it sounds like the project of two fifty-year-olds who have remained young at heart and can still rock like young folks. But anyway. We can also forgive ten years of almost identical albums that are not photocopies only in a few details; we know you want to mess around, that you don't want too much hassle, and that you have already ascended to Olympus in previous years. So yes, we also listen to this Hold It In because, well, because you listen to the Melvins regardless, they never disappoint, and when they do, they still manage to make you smile. We might discover that the two Butthole Surfers perform their jobs excellently (we had no doubt, in fact), and that they come up with cute ideas and things that give a special flavor to the soup, that You Can Make Me Wait is a truly new song for the Melvins. We might hear that tracks like Sesame Street Meat and The Bulk Up are among the best under the Melvins' name in the past ten years. We might even agree that this album is the best in at least the last five years.

But anyway.