It has become more of an expectation rather than any sort of surprise when Melvins announce a new record. Where other communities wait with bated breath and claims of musical starvation in the drought after 10000 Days, Melvins fans welcome new album announcements with “heyyyyy… did you hear the Melvins are putting out their next record?” while raising their eyebrows in a restrained level of excitement that denotes both their hope for the record to be awesome and their acceptance that they might listen to it once, say it sounds good, and move on from there.

As always with a new Melvins release, A Walk With Love and Death captures another bit of magic that only King Buzzo’s brand of heavy riffing and Dale Crover’s monstrous drum attack can muster. Death, the first part of the double album, is definitely a Melvins release where tracks like “Flaming Creature,” “Sober-Delic (Acid Only),” “What’s Wrong with You?”, and “Christ Hammer” stand out as welcome additions of new flavor to the Melvins catalogue, in part thanks to the slick, sometimes psychedelic bass and airy vocals of Steven Macdonald. Its this loftier flavor that really gives this album its identity in their massive catalogue. This more lighthearted expression of the Melvins is pulled back home by tracks like “Black Heath” and “Euthanasia”, which serve to remind the listener of the darkness that Melvins are known for, with the latter finally finding a home on a Melvins record since its birth in the 90’s.

Disappointingly however, it feels kind of like it’s “just another Melvins release.” While listening to this album I stumbled upon possibly the only good Youtube comment ever made, stating that “the Melvins have become increasingly good at ripping off the Melvins.” And while that is paraphrased due to my laziness to find the original comment, I have to say that I agree. In large part thanks to Steven Macdonald’s contributions, this album has some of the freshest Melvins content of the past 7 years, but it also demonstrates a consistent groove of tracks in recent memory that have sounded more like imitation Melvins rather than original content. Not that Buzz and Dale haven’t put out some great content — its just that through this decade, I’ve found partial Melvins LPs like Three Men and a Baby, This Machine Kills Artists, and Crystal Fairy to be the efforts that really felt like Melvins innovating, with Basses Loaded, an album which disappointingly consists of mostly rereleased material from recent EPs, being the only true Melvins record that feels like a contender in the catalogue.

The second LP, Love…is a little hard to review. Consisting of long droning tracks and extensive ambience, this soundtrack to the upcoming short film also titled A Walk with Love and Death bears a strange nature as both a Melvins release and a general album. Perhaps the best way to really review it is by examining the only other Melvins release quite like it — Collosus of Destiny. So do as such…Collosus was better (but you can make up your mind yourself if you want.)

Not to say that Melvins have made a misstep. I, and often many others, respect Melvins propensity to do whatever the fuck they want to do above the actual end product that results from their attitude. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still waiting for a Melvins record that can simultaneously blow Houdini, Stoner Witch, Stag, The Maggot, A Senile Animal, Nude with Boots, and Basses Loaded out of the water.

Death 7/10

Love 1/10