A Walk With Love and Death

Melvins still have something profound to say about the Melvins… but then again, a double disc album that includes one full disc of noise experiments and one full disc of BB King level musicianship kind of was a shocker.

Many of these tracks barely scrape two and a half minutes. Crazed voices talk about “hair” and a “super-weird looking guy” while the deranged piano of a haunted ballroom plays for no one (“The Hidden Joice”). But it’s a fun, fairground of a record too, with a hare-brained 1960s Wurlitzer pop song (“Give It To Me”), dopey scat (“Scooba”) and silly names and phrases like “Chicken Butt” and “Eat Yourself Out”.

Admittedly, it isn’t a particularly easy listen, but love isn’t always easy, even if it is always worthwhile.

Featuring guest stars such as Joey Santiago, Teri Gender Bender and Anna Waronker, A Walk With Love and Death is like a one-stop shop of everything to love, hate and feel infuriated by about Melvins.

Devotees of Crover and his stalwart partner Buzz Osborne--joined here by bassist Steve McDonald-get ample does of both the band's stock-in-trade of gnarly, fuzzy bruisers and demonstrations of its more experimental side on the film soundtrack that comprises the second half. [Aug 2017, p.32]

This is certainly a purchase longtime fans will justly want to grab. However, if you are a newer fan who, for some reason, wants to start with one of the group’s more recent releases, Freak Puke or Nude With Boots might be a better choice since they are more consistently rocking.

The tenacity and productivity of the Melvins is admirable, as is their ability to continue to push music into some of its darkest and most intriguing corners. What would be really interesting, though, is if the Melvins made fewer Melvins records and tried more projects like the one on the second half of A Walk With Love & Death. After 34 years, their output is at times just a little too breathless.