After seeing both Sleep and Boris within only a couple of weeks of each other, I’ve been on a pretty big sludge-metal kick lately. One record that’s been getting an especially large number of spins from me has been Houdini, the 1993 major-label debut from Washington state stoner-metal weirdos the Melvins. As much as I wanted to make today’s 12 O’Clock Track the band’s cover of the Kiss ode to young women “Going Blind,” I settled instead with “Honey Bucket,” a song that better showcases the classic Melvins formula of atom-bomb-heavy guitars and creepy vocals, propelled by the explosive and tremendously fat drumming of Dale Crover. The Melvins have been at it for over 30 years, and while toying with their slow and heavy formula a tiny bit here and there have never stopped totally killing it. Next month they’ll be releasing a new record called Hold It In that finds Crover and front man King Buzzo teaming up with Paul Leary and Jeff Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers, so things should get a little weirder than usual this time around. Until then, enjoy the classics. Check out “Honey Bucket” below.
