Album Review: The Melvins - Freak Puke

Generally the release of a new album by The Melvins warrants a certain amount of celebration, and this is by no means an exception to the rule. Freak Puke departs from their last three studio outings in that the Big Business duo are sitting this one out. Trevor Dunn has stepped into the lineup once more, however, this time he plays an acoustic stand-up bass, bringing a wealth of possibility to the band's explorative elements. So they're again down to one drummer and one fro, but that can't be held against them.

They're calling this incarnation of the band Melvins Lite, but this should by no means be taken as a detractor or an indication that it's a lesser project. No, these experimental-rock stalwarts lay on the blazing adventurism as thick and weighty as always. While their ever-remarkable riffs continue to invite one's face on a brief departure from the skull, it isn't until third track, Baby, Won't You Weird Me Out, that the lurching riffs really begin to flow.

Overall Freak Puke navigates slower terrain more often than their recent albums, but it's within such spaces that this album reveals many of its most extraordinary moments. Holy Barbarian is quite simply one of the most intriguing pieces of their career, and Dunn's bowed bass continually works wonders, adding a haunting classical quality to much of the work. And before creepy, slow experimentalism becomes too much of a good thing, a cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' Let Me Roll It balances the contrast.

Another remarkably curious and confident effort, and after nearly 30 years in the game – what troopers!