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It's 1992 and the Melvins, right after the release of the masterpiece "Bullhead" [which inspired musicians of the caliber of Boris (indeed) and Sunn O)))] and the split with Nirvana, released these three EPs simply called King Buzzo, Joe Preston, and Dale Crover. Three works under the Melvins name but individually conceived by each band member, without collaborations among themselves, and there's no better way to showcase the badassery of this band, which was at the time made up of members who were completely self-sufficient in terms of creativity and with tendencies towards experimenting with new sounds of mass cerebral apparatus destruction.
Imagining the Drone genre as a mountain range, Joe Preston can be defined as an enormous massif, a figure who has been part of the most important drone projects from the moment of its birth to now, I don't know, do the names Earth and Sunno O))) make you feel any vibrations just hearing the name?
Good for you. With "Joe Preston," he gifts us a stone of unique heaviness, especially for those years, as the first Full-Length by Earth had not yet been released, the release of "Bullhead" was still too fresh to be metabolized by the public and critics, and Lysol had not yet been published.
But let's get to the meat.
Introduced by a little jazzy tune coming from the speakers of a very shabby waiting room complete with static ("The Eagle Has Landed") and by a perfectly gritty, muddy track that feels like general rehearsals for the Thrones project ("Bricklebrit"), arrives "Hands First Flower," a track in the same vein as "Boris" so much so that the eponymous Japanese band, after being inspired for their name from here, also draws inspiration for their debut "Absolutego" and a bit for the intro of "Akuma no Uta." Unlike "Boris," it is instrumental, but it's still the usual massive/tank riff advancing slowly with all its robustness to reach the status of a "difficult track." Made even more challenging by the crescendo embellishment with sounds that do nothing but mark the majesty of the riff. Suitable for those who really have the guts!
One last small commendation for Preston: he is the only one of the three Melvins to have created the EP working solely, in fact, the names of the collaborators included in the booklet (Denial Fiend and Salty Green) are both fictional.
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