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Critic Reviews
90
With Thunderball, Melvins have achieved that elusive thing; appeasing the nostalgic hardcore who are itching to relive those golden memories of their youth but also contemporary listeners, unfamiliar with the band who will just dig those heavy riffs – afresh – like the fat old Heads at the back once did. Even though appeasement would never, ever, be part of Melvins’ agenda.
1y
80
Washington State outsiders Melvins keep us guessing on (sort of) return to original line-up.
1y
80
Not many bands retain the ability to dazzle after four decades of active service, but Melvins are not like other bands. Thunderball is as fresh and fearless as anything in the Californians' illustrious catalogue, and you can bang your head to it too, albeit quite slowly.
1y
70
After over four decades, the Melvins still sound utterly uncompromised and full of swampy vigor, and Thunderball confirms they haven't finished challenging themselves or their audience, not by a long shot.
1y
70
The “original” lineup of Seattle’s gods of thunder scores another win.
1y
70
While only being five tracks long, still 35 minutes, you’re left full and satisfied when you finish sinking as far as you can into the gloopy disorder of Thunderball.
1y
50
Overall, Thunderball is a miss. Besides “King Of Rome”, none of the songs had the same impact on me, and it is a record I will not be returning to any time soon.
1y
SOUND-CHECK IN THE REHEARSAL ROOM
If you managed to get into a concert area well before the scheduled start time, you will have attended the sound-check, that interesting test space used by sound engineers to calibrate the volumes and distortions of the mix, as well as the diffusion of the sound in the environment and much more.
This album seems like a half-hour sound-check of engineers who try, with entire minutes of elementary sounds, to find the right point.
Their exhausting slowdowns, ... read more
"King Of Rome" gets started with a great sludgy riff, it's a standard one but tone setting for sure. The vocal effects are fun, as an Electric Wizard quality to it. The drums are fun, good pacing, the guitar also has some fun nuance. Solid opener.
"Vomit Of Clarity" is a short one, more of a droning ambient interlude. "Short Hair With A Wig" continues the weirdness as the bass churns. Very nice doom riff once the guitar begins, steady pacing and a hypnotic ... read more
Really cool Atmosphere, I do love how they managed to basically do a 34 minutes really repetitive song without making it boring. It's dense as Melvins aways is. The cover art is awesome, I would love to have a tattoo in that art style. I do feel like this record has something intriguing, it feels like some kind of presence lurking around, where you feel it's but you never actually see it. The slow pace helps with that bizarre mood. I liked it but I do feel it's lacking something, ... read more
![Ciśnienie - [angry noises]](https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/200x0/album/1448091-angry-noises_191827.jpg)
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Track List
| 1 | King of Rome 3:09 | 75 |
| 2 | Vomit of Clarity 2:04 | 57 |
| 3 | Short Hair With a Wig 11:05 | 73 |
| 4 | Victory of the Pyramids 9:36 | 70 |
| 5 | Venus Blood 8:10 | 71 |
Total Length: 34 minutes
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9mo
Buzz is a lead-poisoned, brain-rotten, anti-intellectual libertarian. Just wanted to put that out there.
