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Oct 7, 2014Every one of these songs is blessed with that special something that the band impress on their songs.
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Oct 16, 2014This album doesn’t change the Melvins narrative, but it’s certainly enjoyable, big, and full of muscly, headbanging jams.
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Classic Rock MagazineDec 16, 2014Since 1983, The Melvins have been a wonderfully unstable constant on the rock fringes. Still fronted by Buzz Osborne of the explosion-in-a-mattress-factory hairdo, they continue to make good on that paradox with Hold It In. [Jan 2015, p.116]
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The WireDec 2, 2014Hold It In finds these crusty veterans meeting the threat of middle-age ennui with ingenuity and enthusiasm. [Oct 2014, p.57]
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Kerrang!Nov 24, 2014Brilliant, Melvins, brilliant. [18 Oct 2014, p.54]
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MagnetNov 12, 2014Hold is the most fun Melvins record in a minute, somehow combining two of the weirdest bands in the history of American rock to come up with an almost-straightforward rock record that shreds hard. [No. 115, p.59]
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Oct 7, 2014It’s their most accessible release in ages. The Melvins hit the riff-heavy heights of their foundational 90s records while freewheeling into plenty of experimentation (like chimes and accordions on The Bunk Up) and straight-up curiosities.
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Oct 14, 2014Hold It In recalls the excellent Stag in its effortless eclecticism, and if there’s one criticism of the album, it’s that, even with its variety, its sounds and styles can’t help but echo its sibling from 1996 and also most of the other albums at the more diverse end of the Melvins spectrum.
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Oct 13, 2014They normally strike a few bullseyes per record though, and so it is with Hold It In.
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Oct 13, 2014Though the album contains plenty of odd twists and turns, there's enough of the old Melvins to keep things from straying too far from home, offering more than a few comforting oases for listeners to refresh themselves before they head out to explore some of Hold It In's weirder moments.
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Oct 10, 2014No one ever accused the Melvins of being boring--despite calling the record Hold It In, it's overflowing with ideas and creativity.
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Oct 7, 2014One of the Melvins’ most diverse and melodic, flirting with New Wave, glam metal, and psychobilly between epic guitar jams and gleefully twisted epics such as the closing “House of Gasoline.”
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Oct 16, 2014They can be a bit one-note sometimes, but that doesn't make them any less beloved; without their ribaldness, the world of heavy music just wouldn't be as fun.
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MojoNov 19, 2014These old dogs have plenty new tricks left. [Dec 2014, p.92]
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Nov 11, 2014Both the fact that this effectively represents a collaborative effort and also that there's three different singers across the album's twelve tracks are probably reasons behind the fact that it feels like a pretty diffuse collection of songs; the only real unifying characteristic to Hold It In's songs are their punishing level of loudness.
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UncutOct 7, 2014Some odd production choices slightly blunt the impact of straighter rockers like "Piss Pisstoferson," but "Onions Make The Milk Taste Bad" confirms their skill for combining the heavy, the catchy and deliriously strange. [Nov 2014, p.77]