Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Run...don't walk..., November 6, 2006
This is the best Melvins cd in years....YEARS, perhaps ever. Like the previous reviewer said, "it will make you remember why you love the Melvins to begin with". Not only are the songs just plain amazing, the seamless integration of two drummers sounds SO natural! Coady is already amazing enough in Big Business, but now he makes Dale work even harder.
It's an amazing show to be seen live and it translates verbatim to CD. Don't miss them live or this CD. Your jaw will drop when you watch Dale and Coady drumming in unison, providing the perfect backdrop for the already drum heavy sound. Rarely does a novelty like "say, lets combine bands" work. Here, not only does it work...it's amazing and actually benefits the overall sound; nothing is compromised, it is only strengthened.
Here's to at least a few more years of this collaboration as it is my favorite Melvins CD quite possibly of all time.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Smell Gold, October 11, 2006
I agree with stonedzombie: "I have to say that this is exactly what I expected the Melvins to put out....meaning that it is UNlike anything else they have put out before"
You never know what the Melvins will put out next, and the surprise this time (in my opinion) is that this is their most accessible album to date. No weird sound effects, extended noise/drone, etc. Lots of straight ahead, short, hard rock songs (six out of the ten songs are under three minutes long).
One thing you'll notice right away is the drumming. There's a lot of great extended drum fills in the middle and end of some songs. The dual drumming really brings the percussion to the forefront on this album.
Five stars is not enough for (A) Senile Animal.
I was lucky enough to catch The Melvins in Boston three nights ago. FANTASTIC SHOW!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow..., November 26, 2006
This album is fantastic. I can't really compare it to other Melvins albums since they all have something different about them, but take my word for it that this one is great. This one is unique from every other Melvins release for two reasons:
1. They have a second drummer on this thing, and
2. There are TONS of vocal harmonies in this album.
My thoughts on both:
The two drummers thing, awesome, the fills and solos are amazing, I never thought they'd find a way to make Dale Crover's work even better, turns out they did, they had another amazingly talented guy drum with him. Its astounding. If you play the drums, you need to hear this album.
The vocal harmonies thing, really cool too. It makes the sound very unique, gives it another layer.
All that said, the album itself is also unlike the other Melvins albums in that most of it is really fast. The Melvins are characteristically famous for their sludgey, slow sound. They still toss out a few slow numbers here, but by and large its chock full of incredibly intelligent, speedy metal songs. And they're awesome! The Melvins sound great playing fast! The intro to "The Hawk" just TEARS!!!
I don't even know how to compose my thoughts about this album other than to say it carries the fine Melvins tradition of doing something to vastly alter their sound on every album, and also, its fantastic. It rocks so hard. I mean, if you thought The Maggot was an awesome fistfull of metal, check out A Senile Animal, its even better.
I should also point out that this is probably their best starter album. Meaning that if you don't own any Melvins albums and never heard of them, this one is the best place to start. I know it's not their classic sludge sound, but the Melvins are not an accessable band. Their music, while intelligent, awesome, and incredibly powerful, takes a while to figure out. You have to give the Melvins a good couple of listens before it just sort of clicks in your head and you realize how brilliant these guys can be.
Take their self titled album (or "Lysol" to the diehards), for example. Its a great brilliant Melvins album; one of their best, as most fans will tell you. But if you were trying to expose someone who's never heard of the Melvins to their music, you wouldn't dare start them out with Lysol, it would go right over their heads.
So thats why its nice to see a Melvins album like "A Senile Animal" come out, becuase the intelligenece and the power is still there, but overall its a much easier experience to wrap your brain around.
So thank you, Melvins, for making yet another wonderful, unique, challenging-yet-still-accessable (not to mention HEAVY) album.
And those of you reading this not knowing a thing about the Melvins, buy this album. If you're a metal fan and you have half a brain, you'll love it. Then pick up The Maggot, Stoner Witch, and Houdini. Now that you realize that this is one of the best musical acts still performing today, go for the golden material with Gluey Portch Treatments, Bullhead, and Lysol.
As a side point, how can Buzz still be doing this? Its been like two decades and he's STILL making some of the best metal riffs in existance. How can you go that long, putting out album after album, and still be tossing out all these fantastic, wonderfully heavy metal riffs left and right?
Its inhuman.
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