Mudhoney
Under A Billion Suns

THE REVIEW

Despite being among the true inventors of grunge, Mudhoney never received the recognition they deserved. Too apathetic and irredeemably goofy to appear on the covers of glossy magazines. Capable even of releasing an irreverent track - "Overblown" - about the Seattle scene on the "Singles" soundtrack when the phenomenon was already monetizing and various Versace and Dolce/Banana were copying Cobain's (RIP) tattered sweaters.
Yet of that era, Mark Arm and company are the only ones still around, and even in the role of those who no longer make a wrong record. After the excellent "Tomorrow Hit Today" and "Since We've Become Translucent", here comes "Under a Billion Suns", whose gestation was anything but uneventful, as it was attributed with unusual political prerogatives. Indeed, this is true, and a large part of the tracks are full of anti-Bush jabs. But no worries: there's no cunning attitude like that of System Of A Down or the rhetoric of the latest Green Day around the corner. Just like in the unforgettable anthem "Touch Me I'm Sick", which with the usual swaggering attitude captured the paranoias of Reagan-era America during the AIDS nightmare, here too the political vein unfolds in a mocking and ironic tone. Truly amusing in this sense is "Hard-on War", which talks about "horny old man always eager for war".
Moreover, the band's handled sound material is so exciting as to be impervious to any cliché. Stylistically, "Under a Billion Suns" doesn't stray far from previous works. It's another happy attempt to repaint the stylistic palette of the immortal "Superfuzz Bigmuff", with the use of new instruments: excellent, for example, the xylophone on "Endless Yesterday", rich in surprising psychedelic nuances. Despite lacking the seminal urgency of their debut, Turner and Arm's guitars sound snarling and sparkling, in a garage-Stooges delirium to give you chills, or torrid as per Blue Cheer's lesson (listen to "A Brief Celebration of Indifference"). This very imprint also precluded mass success for Mudhoney, considering that most grunge heroes (from Soundgarden to Pearl Jam) forged their sound around the much more profitable Zeppelin archetype.

Perhaps now the times would be favorable, given the success enjoyed by rock and roll poseurs such as Babyshambles, Strokes, or Hives, but can you imagine that outcast Mark Arm on TRL or the cover of NME? It's a pity, because if we're talking about "rock and roll energy" these days – in episodes like "Blindspots", "I Saw the Light Yesterday", "It Is Us", or in an "Empty Shell" that seems like a brand new "Need" – you'll find plenty of it here. May the God of rock – if there really is still one – preserve these adorable drunks for a long time.