Grunge rock’s most indefatigable missionaries, Melvins, will return this spring with Tarantula Heart, their umpteenth release since the turn of the millennium (or is that umphundredth?). As with every release, the group — buoyed by singer-guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover, since 1983 — have put a new spin on the genre. On the wild “Allergic to Food,” the latest single to come off the album, due out April 19, they dial up the cacophony with even-deeper-than-usual swirls of guitar, drums, and noise with even more musicians.
For Tarantula Heart, the twosome teamed with guitarist Gary Chester (We Are the Asteroid), bassist-singer Steven McDonald (Redd Kross, Off), and drummer Roy Mayorga (Nausea, Soulfly, Ministry), and you can hear how the noise builds on the track. Beginning with a guitar riff and a squealing sound akin to a dental drill, the drummers kick into the groove and everyone settles into a jagged riff. Osborne sings about holy men and little bastards. “I don’t want to talk to her,” he sings at one point, “I was going to kill myself.” (Don’t worry, he doesn’t. He just wages war on eardrums.)
The unwieldiness of the song is by design. “The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins album,” Osborne said in a statement. “I had Dale and Roy come in and play along with Steven and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written before we start recording!”
“The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts,” Crover said. “Roy is an amazing drummer. We would discuss what we would do pattern wise, then we’d just go for it. Improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.”
McDonald described the record as “an album so magical, I helped create it without knowing it was happening.” He added, “It’s definitely the weirdest album I’ve ever been a part of.” (And he once cowrote a twisted love song for Linda Blair.)
The group, which promises 39 minutes of chaos on Tarantula Heart’s five songs, previously released the similarly musically miasmic “Working the Ditch.” It’s just as good, too.
Tarantula Heart Track List
1. “Pain Equals Funny”
2. “Working the Ditch”
3. “She’s Got Weird Arms”
4. “Allergic to Food”
5. “Smiler”
