Melvins:"Hold it In"

The Melvins open up their newest with what you expect of them. Sabbath paced chugs and melodic yet menacing vocals. These guys became some what of a hipster trend and I guess songs like "You Can Make Me Wait" provide explanation for that.This is the 22nd album, so any thing they do is by design as it' far from these Honkys first rodeo. The effected vocals make this feel more like a Ween song. They continue to play around with the tongue in cheek manner of rocking with "Brass Cupcake". They stumble into the kind of vibe the Darkness used to when they would start to sound more like the Cars, though not ttotallyshedding the cock rock elements. And there are cock rock elements on this. Don't try to fool yourself by saying this is stoner this and that...it's a few shades of dark away from being Bon Jovi.

 Sure they are more experimental than your average Saxon album, at times excessively so to the point of making noise on the third song, but it seems like Wizard of OZ smoke and mirrors to keep you from looking behind the curtain to find this is a step back into the 80's and by 80's I don't mean what they sounded like in 1983 when they formed.Before grunge was a think these guys were doing it and are the reason Cobain created "Bleach", but rather than being a punk band that dabbles in metal, they are a metal band that keeps a punk elitist air to themselves. "Onions Make the Milk Taste Bad" has a little more stomp to it, but at it's heart seem to want to just be able to rock n roll."Eyes on You" they indulge themselves in just being rock n roll, but more like Zappa messing around with garage rock just to be cute. They do return to the more metal sound that I associate them with on "Sesame Street Meat" before teasing Buzzo's already impressive fro up higher for "9 Yards". The do find a pretty smart Tomahawk like groove on "The Bunk Up". It has the angular feel of a Mike Patton penned song. The vocals take on more venom, when not bouncing around the song. It comes around full circle into a more 70's rock jam.The country song could have been skipped altogether , but the albums two final songs are pretty strong. "House of Gasoline" that closes out the album is more of what you expect from these guys than the more cock rock "Piss Pissoferson" which doesn't sound that pissed at all, but is still a decent song.

 I'll give this album a 6 it has it's moments, but not enough that makes me want to keep it in my iPod any longer than a day. However there are some really well played moments and these guys are legends at what they do, they just do it in such a haphazard manner they can be a little hit or miss. If you are a fan of these guys I would imagine this is going to feel like Celtic Frost's Cold Lake to you. There are some moments when it even dishes out Foo-Fighters brand of cheese, but they will give you a few songs to add to your collection despite of these iffy moments.