Somewhere between the sub-genres of rock lies something I like to call “odd” rock: heavy, catchy music with always something wrong! Melvins is, along with bands like The Residents and Cardiacs, emblematic of this aesthetic. Buzz Osborne and his band are back in force with a 32nd album that doesn’t look its age. The recipe is not rocket science, as the musical ideas are relatively simple. All the tracks are catchy and fairly minimalist in structure. But there’s the occasional five-beat measure to throw things off a bit, as well as the slightly left-field note choices. Buzz Osborne’s voice, whether in the foreground or buried under layers of processing, confirms the music’s permanent strangeness. Then, when a guitar motif stubbornly repeats itself, a superimposition of effects energizes things and we quickly fall into more noise-rock territory. There’s also a touch of humor, which has always been a thematic leitmotif of the Melvins. The band masters all these ingredients perfectly on this varied album. From the crushing 19-minute lament of “Pain is Funny” to the short, dissonant “She’s Got Weird Arms”, there’s a whole world of obliquity to be discovered on Tarantula Heart. As Melvins pass their fortieth anniversary, the trio reaffirms its place in the pantheon of experimental rock. Indeed, critics are even moving towards a consensus that Tarantula Heart could be the best opus since 2006’s (A) Senile Animal!
