Melvins
Stoner Witch (Atlantic)
by Paul Lee
Like tectonic plates that make the Earth shudder and shake, the Melvins make the Earth quake. On their sixth release, the second on Atlantic, the Melvins bring us on a whacked-out journey from sheer audio force down to trippy, near-silent jams. Like Houdini, their previous musical monster, Stoner Witch will not take the Melvins into the dreaded mainstream hell.
It took me a while to fully appreciate Stoner Witch, but there’s some juicy and savage action going on here. These bastards are crafty. What I dig most about the Melvins is their uncompromising approach to songwriting (or torturing); even if it grinds on the nerves, they’re never swayed by anyone’s whims. Buzz (gtr, roaring), Dale (thuds), and new four-stringer, Mark, won’t be like anyone. They elude labels such as the nondescript “grunge” or the trite “metal.” Just call them “melvianic.”
According to their elegant bio, each song is a landscape for them. Each one has its own feeling, groove and identity. “We tried to make each song like a little planet with its own atmosphere,” says Mark.
No lyric sheet comes with Stoner Witch and you can barely understand Buzzo’s words, which is great. He admits in the bio to not caring about the content of the lyrics. “The power is in the music,” Buzzo proclaims. “If the music is cranking, I don’t care what someone is singing.” There’s even a ferocious and brief instrumental entitled “June Bug.” Aside from the nice bond paper for their bio, there’s nothin’ fancy ’bout the Melvins. Even the artwork is simple and strangely mundane.
From the off-beat, off-key chaos of the intro song, “Skeetis,” to the briefly annihilating speed of “Sweet Willy Rollbar,” the Melvins craft each song in their own twisted way. Buzzo’s vocals vacillate nicely between the chest-thunder of the heavier songs and the more subtle approach of peaceful songs like “Goose Freight Train.” Make no mistake though; the Melvins can still blast forth a heavy plodding number the likes of which only Sabbath can exceed.
The problem with Stoner Witch lies in two songs. The first is entitled “Magic Pig Detective,” and is a trip into the annoying usage of feedback and odd sounds. The whacky stuff is only the intro, but it lasts a bloody three and a half minutes. The rest of the song roars with a speedy two minute destruction that makes you want to dive from high places into an awaiting crowd of clueless tourists. Problemo two lies with the song “Lividity,” a minimalist, psychedelic jam that’s more bass than anything else and lasts over eight minutes. If you’re in the mood, it may soothe your shattered soul, but with so many other smoking songs, “Lividity” is Thorazine and rather pretentious, not to mention tedious.
It’s hard to say what kinds of waves the Melvins will make with Stoner Witch. Their dedicated fans will find it a treat, but may find Houdini more consistent. People who like the thundering of the Melvins may be confused by their use of peace and subtlety when juxtaposed with their more outrageously loud numbers. They know what they’re doing, and I’m sure Buzzo and company aren’t concerned with crossing into the mainstream – only confusing and annoying it. It’s likely that the Melvins will remain the cult phenomenon they’ve always been and outlive any pointless nickname like “the godfathers of grunge.”
