The Melvins - Stoner Witch

Dale Crover is hardly an underrated drummer. Currently touring with The Melvins/Fantomas big band, he has spent the last 20 years playing on some extremely solid records (I had a hard time deciding which one to include, I mean c'mon, Houdini is awesome, Stag is heavy as hell and even the recent Melvins stuff contains some great moments). I finally settled on Stoner Witch partly because I find it has the perfect blend of heavy sludgy drumming mixed with some very technical and intricate patterns, partly because its the first Melvins record I heard (Thanks Courtney) and it blew my fucking mind.

I have a thing when it comes to drums on record. While I like a guy who is precise and thoughtful, I also like it when it sounds as if the drummer is playing with hammers. I love hearing force on a record, if I can tell a drummer is hitting as hard as he possibly can, either by the echo in the room or the FWAP of the stick on the head, I feel like I am getting all they can offer. This happens on The Shape Of Punk to Come (by Refused) and a couple Constantines records, but the best example is still Stoner Witch.

Dale also plays HUGE drums, and you can tell. I'm pretty sure at this time he was using a bass drum as another floor tom, and two or three ride cymbals. When he kicks into the slow, hypnotic beat for At The Stake I picture an army of elephants marching into battle. It's hard to analyze his playing because it seems as well thought out as it does off the cuff and improvised. The Melvin's had been a band for years by this point, and well past that point where you learn how to comfortably write songs together. Along with their previous records it would inspire legions of teenagers to smoke pot and try to write stoner rock riffs, but no one would really do it as properly as this until Queens of the Stone Age put out Rated R seven years later.

Apart from having one of the best first tracks ever (a minute and a half of heavy as balls nonsense, starting with Dale), the album itself is probably only 70 percent listenable. The Melvins have a tendency to put in long, uninterrupted bouts of noise which is interesting and all, but it starts to get annoying towards the end. My favorite song, Magic Pig Detective, comes in after three minutes of feedback, I either have to fast forward or bear it every time I want to hear it.

The 70 percent of this album that is listenable however, is all over the place musically, but completely engrossing. Fast guitar riffs and tight drumming on half of it, slow, sludgy and muddy for the rest. The fact that Sweet WIlly Rollbar and At The Stake are on the same album amazes me. The Melvins seemed to just write awesome songs with no attention to album theme, or overall form at all.

And that's just fine with me.

Audio/Video Evidence : Sweet Willy Rollbar , Revolve