A WALK WITH LOVE & DEATH
Ipecac Recordings.
Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, Hard Rock, Sound Collage, Original Score.
Listening Format: Digital.
Melvins have been incredibly prolific in the last few years. Two albums in 2013 (one was a cover album), two albums in 2014 (one was King Buzzo's solo album), two albums in 2016... Offshoot project Crystal Fairy have already released a quality album earlier this year too! At this point, Melvins announcing a double album seems like some kind of threat! 'A Walk With Love & Death' very much presents both sides of the Melvins coin in one release. The 'Death' disc is that classic Melvin's Sludge Rock sound. Whilst the 'Love' disc is a return to the experimental side of Melvins that made 'Electroretard' and collaborated with Lustmord. Truly a release for the die hard Melvins connoisseur!
DEATH
It's probably safe to say that Melvins have softened up their sound a little bit this decade *takes cover from a pelting of rotten fruit*. But seriously, Melvins' recent output has been closer to a Hard Rock sound, even if there are still some classy doomy riffs on show. King Buzzo hasn't quite given us a ferocious scream or a haggard, crushing deathblow of a riff that abuses stereo speakers lately, such as displayed on their seminal 1993 album 'Houdini'. But what Melvins' have done well is to keep releasing interesting stuff. Their run of albums on Ipecac hasn't always been gold, but have been full of varying sounds, line-up changes and lots of collaborative efforts. Considering they are releasing material at a yearly rate, their creative flow certainly hasn't diminished.
The 'Death' disc of this double album is such a fun and breezy listen. I wouldn't quite consider it Metal, although stand out 'Euthanasia' has a slow and heavy riff that could slay a woolly mammoth. Sounding like classic 90s Melvins (this song has been knocking around live sets for a long time now). But most of this album is much more in the Rock terrirory. Standout track 'Sober-dellic' has a Blues Rock stomp to it that seems to be challenging 70s ZZ-Top. Lead single 'What's Wrong With You?' beautifully channels their 90s Grunge/Sub Pop roots. This track sounds like the Beach Boys, Nirvana and Bubblegum Pop all mixed into a blender. The vocal harmonies sound so immediate and ear grabbing on this track. The vocal harmonies shine really well on the crunchy riff rocker 'Flaming Creature' too, another huge track. Ultimately the 'Death' disc is just so much fun. Melvins' have been trying to create more immediate, catchy and fun songs for a few years now and it sounds like they are getting better and better at it. They still totally inject them with that Melvins quirk and sense of humour.
LOVE
On the tails side of the coin we have the 'Love' disc. It's been a while since the more controversial and experimental side of Melvins has been let loose but here we have it. 'Love' is an original score for a short film directed by Jesse Nieminen, also called A Walk With Love & Death. I've not seen the film yet, but judging from the score I imagine it to be a very surreal, arty collage film perhaps? The 'Love' disc is not a film score in the traditional sense. It is basically a series of noisy sound collages with field recordings, spoken word samples (presumably from the film) and little to no structure. Each track noodles about seemingly randomly, with the occasional pulsing electronics, banging drums, scatty guitars. All the tracks here sound like they are completely improvised in the studio and sound very lo-fi and barely mixed or mastered. It definitely harkens back to their 1994 sound collage album 'Prick'.
I honestly really struggled to sit through this disc. It just... It's not good. The sound of Melvins messing around with instruments in their rehearsal room with no rhyme or reason might appeal to a small quota of Noise fans or Melvins die hards, but in reality, this is not enjoyable to listen to. It sounds like the band churned it out in an afternoon and barely looked back on it. It also has absolutely no connection to the impressive 'Death' disc in terms of sound, style or thematic content. I did not take away anything memorable or enjoyable from this disc, and I quickly want to forget I ever heard it.
CONCLUSION
These two albums really deserved to be released separately because they don't have any logical connection to each other. 'Death' is one of the best Melvins releases of this decade, and 'Love' might be the worst thing they have ever put out. If 'Love' had just been billed as a "bonus disc" I could have let it slide. But this package is not only being marketed as a double album, but priced as such too. And sadly, as much as I enjoyed the 'Death' disc, it isn't worth shelling out that extra buck (although the album packaging is superb). The 'Love' disc is something you will not want to listen to more than once... Ever! I'm going to leave this at a 6/10 (but in reality think of it as an 8/10 & a 2/10)
*Note: At least it lives up to the title. Feels like they got the 'Love' & 'Death' titles the wrong way around though?
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