Melvins - Gluey Porch Treatments (29 tracks) +Album Reviews

Pure, undiluded grunge

drumb | milwaukee, wi United States | 06/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When "Gluey Porch Treatments" was first released, The Melvins' home base of Aberdeen was an oozing cesspool of bigotry, hate, and mind-numbing boredom. The Melvins tamed this violently, oppressive atmosphere, let it seep through every pore on their bodies, and in a wonderful example of music mirroring reality, spit it back out as the most vile, destructive, demented, and utterly demonic sounds ever to plague the human species. As their first full length LP, Gluey Porch Treatments' unique amalgamation of punk ferocity, metallic fervor, and everything in between gave birth to the grunge movement and caught the public completely off guard. By slowing to a sluggish pace relative to the current punk mentality, The Melvins reduced their music to its most primal elements, which allowed each and every forced note to be emphasized in the cacophony of crawling from one dischordant dirge to the next. The bone crunching drums proceeded in manic pursuit of the guitars as Buzzo's throaty growls pushed their way through the thick layer of guitar fuzz, immediately enveloping the listener in a dense, desolate wasteland. Through muscle and force, The Melvins stretched the confines of their music to the exact point of implosion and then harvested the wreckage to assemble an ugly stew of the pieces. This process of destruction and creation allowed The Melvins to build an album from the ground up, finally arriving at the musical equivalent of a construction site which simultaneously showed the intense beauty of demolition and conception. What appears on the surface as an unyielding wave of depression, then gradually becomes a thing of nirvana, a perfect order shaped from sublime disorder. While critics failed to catch on, The Melvins themselves, as well as a dedicated group of fans, recognized the indescribable sense of catharsis delivered by the utterly overwhelming Gluey Porch Treatments and in that instant, The Melvins completely redefined what it meant to be heavy."

The exquisite machinery of torture

Wheelchair Assassin | The Great Concavity | 04/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Gluey Porch Treatments contains some of the most vile, depraved, and oppressive noise ever unleashed upon mankind. You can feel the doom and despair dripping from every pained vocal howl, every twisted guitar riff, and every punishing drum beat. The Melvins' mix of doom and punk adds up to a sadistic listen that is all but guaranteed to offend normal, well-adjusted people everywhere. Needless to say, I love it."

Forget grunge, this is Melvins-rock!

J. Book | Pasco, WA United States | 11/07/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this album. Before grunge became an overabused household name, Aberdeen's own Melvins were combining punk and hard rock in a manner that was meant to anger and excite its listeners. This album (originally released on Alchemy Records) is full of feedback, a raw album where you could literally smell the piss and cobwebs in the garage. There are so many good songs on this, from "Steve Instant Newman", "As Was Is" (a reworking of their own "Easy As It Was"), the god-like "Leeech", and the anthem "Over From Under The Excrement". King Buzzo and Dale Crover still manage to turn out the goods to this day, and each one has yet to disappoint me. But there is nothing like the first."

From the depths of HELL!!! ...or your local record store

Bill McCambridge | Mondovi, WI, USA | 09/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Another outstanding release from the Melvins. It all starts off with that oh so memorable bassline to "Eye Flys" as it builds up with miles of feedback and drum pounding for about four and a half minutes and them comes crashing down with all the ferocity that is the Melvins. "Echo/Don't Piece Me" follows with its thrashy stop-startish intro that then flows into some quick guitarwork. Then the more rhythmic part of the song begins and becomes a quick rocker. Then comes "Heater Moves and Eyes" which is a great sludgtastic little number. "Steve Instant Neuman" is next, a.k.a. "Disinvite", which is a quicker song with Buzz doing some pretty cool soloing. Up next is "Influence of Atmospher" which has a pretty sweet drum intro and them just goes into some sludge-laden riffs and doesn't really change. "Exact Paperbacks" is a quick little punk number with some manic vocals where you will "be stuck with her, and that would be something that you don't want" apparently. "Happy Gray or Black" is another quicker, punky song at first, and then dips into the sludginess that we all embrace the Melvins for. "Leeech" is next, which if I'm not mistaken, I believe was originally a Green River song, possibly? Anyway, it's a pretty cool typical Melvins song that drifts into a drum solo, which is always good when you have Dale Crover behind the set. "Glow God" is an odd song that really doesn't even begin until it is half-over. Then there is "Big as a Mountain" with it's awesome as hell intro riff and Buzz's weird as hell mumbling. "Heaviness of the Load," the description is in the title. "Flex with you" is a quick little stop starter with Buzz mumbling something right in the middle of it. "Bitten into Sympathy" has an awesome intro riff and it just keeps getting better, well actually it's more of the same, but you know what I mean. The title track "Gluey Porch Treatments" is a fast-paced punk number that never lets up. "Clipping Roses" is odd song about roses withering and dying. "As It Was," a.k.a. "Easy as it Was" has always been one of my favorite Melvins songs and never fails to disappoint. The closing instrumental track "Over From Under the Excrement" has often been declared an anthem and I guess it could be called that, or just one of the best heavy metal instrumentals ever. Overall this is one of the best Melvins CD's to first get acquainted with the band."

This album rocks

Bill McCambridge | 12/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the first Melvins album and it rocks. Admittedly the Melvins can be an acquired taste, but this really is an excellent album, especially the 2000 re-release. It features the original Melvins bassist Matt Lukin (until lately of Mudhoney). It also has some of the best early songs, including the classic Eye Flys. The re-release version has 12 garage demos. If you're not convinced, just listen to the opening riff of Influence of Atmosphere."

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