Love 'em or hate 'em, you have to give
the Melvins credit for issuing perhaps the most challenging release of their lengthy, mega-influential (
Nirvana,
Soundgarden, etc.) career with 1999's
The Maggot. Their first release on Mike Patton's Ipecac label,
The Maggot is the inaugural release of a trio of albums that were recorded at the same time and issued over the span of several months, the other releases being
The Bootlicker and The Crybaby. Unlike most other alternative/heavy metal bands of the '80s and '90s who eventually experimented with other musical forms and approaches,
the Melvins have stuck to their patented brutal and detuned sludge-rock throughout the years, and
The Maggot is no different. Guitarist
King Buzzo is still the undisputed master of the monstrous guitar riff (perhaps second only to
Black Sabbath's
Tony Iommi), as proven by such cuts as "AMAZON," "Manky," a cover of
Fleetwood Mac's "The Green Manalishi," and the torturous album closer "See How Pretty, See How Smart." Strangely, all eight songs on the CD are sequenced in a way so that the listener can skip to the middle of each track. ~ Greg Prato