This collaboration between the two bands finds these elder statesmen of Grind Core and Sludge blending what they do in a way that makes sense. The first song, "Tossing Coins into the Fountain of Fuck", sounds like the Melvins are in control of the instrumental arrangements and have Barney Greenway roaring over them. Some impressive riffing kicks off the nine-minute "Somekind of Antichrist." Buzz Osborne's vocals lead into this, with a call-and-response featuring Greenway's more savage snarl. Three and a half minutes, things ebb down to allow for atmosphere. This ambient weirdness consumes the rest of the song.
More electronic elements than you might expect from this pairing comprise the two minutes of "Awful Handwriting," which is more like an interlude than a song. The dark and stormy metal intentions that you might expect from them are the backbone of "Nine Days of Rain". The sludgey mood of "Rip the God" finds Osbourne's sung vocals dripping with melodic unease. It is hard to detect Napalm Death's contributions on this one until Barney's vocals come in later.
The pace picks for "Stealing Horses" which finds them splitting the difference with a more punk flavored riff that still holds the Melvins angular ugliness. There is a fair amount of chaos injected into this. "Comparison is the Thief of Joy" finds a weird synth groove in the midst of a dreamy atmosphere. They rear the metallic head back up with a mean riff driving "Death Hour" that finds Buzz and Barney, layering their varied vocal approaches over this. Once again, the weird wave of experimental ambient noises takes over to wash the song away from going in a more metallic direction. This seems to be the theme of this partnership which is almost too odd for its own good, but works like old Pink Floyd in this regard. I will give it a 9.5 and see how it grows on me. Out on Ipecac Records April 10th.
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