Melvins – Pinkus Abortion Technician

Ipecac

Still sporting the best hair in rock, King Buzzo is back with the latest iteration of his wonderful musical monstrosity. Pinkus Abortion Technician is the kind of album title that’s designed to make you go “…wait, what?”

But it kinda makes sense – for their several thousandth (well, not quite, but you get the picture – these boys work hard) studio album, Melvins have harnessed the bass power of Butthole Surfer Jeff Pinkus to create something over which the legacy of that band looms large. Given that this gives them two bassists, it’s a fairly bass-heavy affair, as well as just a heavy one.

Opening with a combination of the James Gang‘s “Stop” and the Buttholes’ “Moving To Florida” and ending with a Melvinsy take on the latter’s “Graveyard”, it’s the sound of Melvins having a bit of fun, with Pinkus taking on a lot of the writing duties.

The stand-out track for me is “Don’t Forget To Breathe”, a slow, sleazy and ultra-heavy slab of juicy Melvins goodness, a sinister groove with massive balls. “Flamboyant Duck”, by contrast, sounds like Jane’s Addiction in one of their more contemplative moments, all looping bass and summer afternoon banjo plucking away between the riffs.

“Break Bread” and “Embrace The Rub” give us our metal and punk fixes, while you won’t believe what they’ve done with The Beatles‘ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. Which is to play it almost entirely straight, albeit heavier, except to turn the riff into a big chunky pause between lines. The Beatholes, maybe? And “Prenup Butter” uses a relatively mellow base (and bass) to springboard some ultra-hefty psych-metal into the stratosphere.

So it’s something of a curio – but not in the sense that it’s one for completists only. An odd little tangent it may be, but it’s as heavy, riff-packed and just plain fun as you’d expect from a Melvins album. They’re still not out of ideas, and they’re still not going anywhere any time soon.

-Justin Farrington-