Melvins & Lustmord - Pigs of the Roman Empire
Ipecac - IPC-054 - 24/08/2004
By Paddy Walsh
Those modern masters of the riff, The Melvins, are back, and this time they've brought ambient extraordinaire Lustmord along for the ride! To be honest this all makes perfect sense, as for years The Melvins have been subjecting us to all manner of electronic headfuckery amongst their stomping, Sabbath infused epics. Thus it will come as no surprise the fact that Pigs of the Roman Empire rawks like a motherfucker whilst simultaneously making you scratch your head in confusion. Business as usual then.
Lustmord's presence is felt in opener 'III', an understated piece with a certain brooding menace, before kicking into 'The Bloated Pope', which is as close as we get to a 'normal' Melvins song on the whole disc. A real stomper it is too, all chugging riffs and searing leads underpinned with King Buzzo's ever vitriolic rantings. As always The Melvins never make things easy for the listener, and the riffs soon give way to weird little southern baked clean lead overlaid with strange high pitched vocals, before blowing up into a cacophony of screeching guitars marking Buzzo's return to the mic. Brilliant.
'Toadi Acceleratio' is notable in that it sounds much like Tools 'Disposition' after being shoved through a carnival, while the 22 minute title track is an exercise in build up, with Lustmord and The Melvins sharing duties, climaxing in a typical Melvins style gallop. 'Safety Third' is perhaps the highlight of the entire album, and one of the few places where it feels like a true collaboration took place between the two. An up-tempo riff-fest with Lustmord's electronic noodlings in the background, it sounds much better than you think.
So all in all, The Melvins once more deliver an album of severe pulverising rock and fuck with our heads at the same time. Only this time, the brain meltage is official thanks to Lustmord's involvement. Of course it's debatable whether it would have really made a huge difference if Lustmord had sat this one out and whether this was just both parties pasting their own thing together and hoping for the best, but that's irrelevant because, like I said, this rocks like a motherfucker!
8.5/10
Melvins' Official Website
Ipecac's Official Website
Ipecac - IPC-054 - 24/08/2004
By Paddy Walsh
Those modern masters of the riff, The Melvins, are back, and this time they've brought ambient extraordinaire Lustmord along for the ride! To be honest this all makes perfect sense, as for years The Melvins have been subjecting us to all manner of electronic headfuckery amongst their stomping, Sabbath infused epics. Thus it will come as no surprise the fact that Pigs of the Roman Empire rawks like a motherfucker whilst simultaneously making you scratch your head in confusion. Business as usual then.
Lustmord's presence is felt in opener 'III', an understated piece with a certain brooding menace, before kicking into 'The Bloated Pope', which is as close as we get to a 'normal' Melvins song on the whole disc. A real stomper it is too, all chugging riffs and searing leads underpinned with King Buzzo's ever vitriolic rantings. As always The Melvins never make things easy for the listener, and the riffs soon give way to weird little southern baked clean lead overlaid with strange high pitched vocals, before blowing up into a cacophony of screeching guitars marking Buzzo's return to the mic. Brilliant.
'Toadi Acceleratio' is notable in that it sounds much like Tools 'Disposition' after being shoved through a carnival, while the 22 minute title track is an exercise in build up, with Lustmord and The Melvins sharing duties, climaxing in a typical Melvins style gallop. 'Safety Third' is perhaps the highlight of the entire album, and one of the few places where it feels like a true collaboration took place between the two. An up-tempo riff-fest with Lustmord's electronic noodlings in the background, it sounds much better than you think.
So all in all, The Melvins once more deliver an album of severe pulverising rock and fuck with our heads at the same time. Only this time, the brain meltage is official thanks to Lustmord's involvement. Of course it's debatable whether it would have really made a huge difference if Lustmord had sat this one out and whether this was just both parties pasting their own thing together and hoping for the best, but that's irrelevant because, like I said, this rocks like a motherfucker!
8.5/10
Melvins' Official Website
Ipecac's Official Website
