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Melvins > (A) Senile Animal > Reviews > HiroshimaVacation
Melvins - (A) Senile Animal

A very solid release - 90%

HiroshimaVacation, November 27th, 2009

The Melvins have never been a band that has had to compromise heir musical creativity and experimentation. Throughout their incredibly prolific existence the Melvins have released everything from straight up sludge (Bullhead) to one hour live shows of just noise (Colossus of Destiny). But after 20 + years of pushing the boundaries of heavy music, the Melvins have finally taken in a solid rhythm section in fellow Washington sludge band Big Business and have released one of their more differently straightforward rocking albums.

On this album, the Melvins use their new rhythm to their fullest potential. Jared Warrens bass provides most of the thickness in the music leaving Buzz's guitars a bit low in the mix, and with an ungodly crappy tone. The guitar tone is without a doubt the worst thing about this album. It's so weak and small sounding you'd think they were completely oblivious to it what is sounded like during recording, but I digress. The addition of a second drummer adds a lot of color and a much more boomy sound to the mix. Dale and Coady play off of each other very well, and very frequently, usually providing the transitions from song to song. All in all you can definitely tell their are two drummers on this album.

Most of the songs are generally short, most of them are under 3 minuets. The riffs are sometimes very strange( see The Talking Hoarse, Blood Witch) other times the Melvins great gift of writing catchy memorable songs shines through ( Civilized Worm, The Hawk). The vocal harmonies add a lot of color and incredibly enjoyable listening experiences to the songs. All of the vocals are very well orchestrated and sound very well together. Towards the end is where the good old Melvins sludge kicks in. Slow riffs, thick bass, pounding drums all wrapped together to make a nice helping of heavy, tar thick music.

(A) Senile Animal is a great addition to the Melvins discography. It's catchy, heavy(save for the guitar tone), very well written and very well structured. Definitely a mandatory buy for Melvins fans and a good starting point for anyone just getting into them.