Review: Lana Harris

More than 25 years making music, the Melvins are credited with influencing scores of bands (including Nirvana and Soundgarden) but no one sounds just like them. Their creations are grungy, often slow but still powerful and slide into sludgy metal territory occasionally. They have two drummers in what is currently a four member outfit (got to expect a few line up changes in two and a half decades) who have been together for three albums now. On The Bride Screamed Murder the Melvins are, if not experimental, at the very least non traditional in their music arrangements. There’s never a sense of

bowing to any kind of convention in the music. When voice is used, it’s as an instrument itself, not as a way of conveying opinion or an observation set to music, and they don’t stick to one time signature or tempo. If you’re unprepared for this, the way the songs play out is disorienting. My first listen of The Bride Screamed Murder, particularly the first two tracks, left me wondering what was going on. ‘Evil New War God’ comes to an almost dead stop before changing direction. I thought it had skipped to track three but it was still the same song. Continue reading Melvins “The Bride Screamed Murder” LP Review →