The Melvins-Nude With Boots
Ipecac
July 8, 2008

The Melvins are a band that seems to have been around forever, a band that I remember reading about in a biography about Kurt Cobain, but never heard until maybe five years ago. From that point on, I was only a casual fan, noting and respecting the impact they've had on music but not feeling the desire to own more than Houdini. Nude With Boots might change all that. This is quite a solid album full of great musicianship and catchy rock songs.

Rock and roll is the best way to describe The Melvins, with maybe a little sludge thrown in there due to the tempo. While the musicianship is stellar, they don't stray too far from the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge, etc. songwriting path, instead just hammering their style down the listener's throat with a subtle heaviness. The speed is usually on the slow side, leaving room for drummer Coady Willis to go relatively crazy with some supurb drumming.

The songs range from about a minute and a half (I'm not counting "Flush") to seven and a half minutes. There is enough sludge and stoner rock to go around, but The Melvins are mostly rock and roll. This is a driving album with a great flow to it, an album that may make people to check out some of their back catalogue.

Written by: RF
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