Melvins + Lustmord - Pigs Of The Roman Empire (2004)

I picked this up on a whim when I saw it in a little record shop. I had never heard of the Melvins and I knew Lustmord through reputation only. Boy, what a nice surprise! It's like these two artists were made for each other.

The Melvins, for those who don't know, are a sludgy, grungy metal band who used to hang out with Nirvana, but whose music is way, way better. They have always had some experimental tendencies and they are used to good effect here. Lustmord is, of course, the undisputed king of the Dark Ambient genre.

The tracks on this release tend to jump back and forth between the two styles without much evidence of true collaboration... at first. The opener "III" is a spooky bit of slowly building ambient that centers around a clock chime. It leads into "The Bloated Pope," a classic Melvins style tune. However, this illusion is shattered when we get to the twenty-two minute title track, an epic slab of downtuned riffage surrounded by wonderful atmospheric textures. Honestly, I could listen to this track all day. It features the best of what both contributors have to offer.

The rest of the album has both metal tunes with dashes of ambient, and ambient atmospheres with dashes of metal. It all works terribly well, and many of the songs are actually quite catchy (one of the Melvins' strengths.) I know a lot of experimental music lovers out there hate metal, and if you're one of them you probably won't like this. Personally, I am a great lover of swampy, sludgy guitar riffs and those are present in abundance. Add to that the gorgeously sinister electronics of Lustmord and you've got a record that I return to over and over again.

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of Natural History (2001)

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are, in this reviewer's opinion, the single most exciting band of the 21st century. Their sound is difficult to describe, primarily because it is so unique. Part heavy metal, part Henry Cow-style avant garde, part high concept performance art, they are truly a breed apart and always full of surprises.

This is their second, and widely considered their best, album (so far.) It is a vaguely conceptual piece dealing with the combined themes of Italian Futurism and the Unibomber. If that sounds like nonsense, it's because it is. Although all the members are virtuosos and clearly take their art seriously, they are not without a sense of humor, as illustrated by the song "Cockroach," a deadpan, yet hilarious, condemnation of the lowly insect.

The band's instrumental makeup includes violin, male and female vocals (both stellar,) guitars basses, a myriad of exotic percussion devices, and several very unusual homemade instruments including the aptly named "Viking Longboat." I saw them perform last week and it appears they have added trombone and flute to their repertoire as well.

The live show bears mentioning, as it is a highly entertaining affair complete with elaborate costumes, free-associative rants from the band members and sometimes bizarre dancing from an enigmatic performer known as Momo. But back to the album.

Of Natural History contains much of the band's finest work. There are stomping metal anthems, soft but intense dirges, instrumental interludes that change time signatures so often that even us musical snobs struggle to keep up, field recordings of a country farmer teaching the band a song he composed when he was four, and a charming duet featuring a songbird.

Seriously, check them out. You won't be disappointed.