Tres Cabrones is the second Melvins album in five months, and like its predecessor, Everybody Loves Sausages, there is a bit of stunting involved here. Whereas Sausages focused on a set of covers from unexpected artists like Divine and Throbbing Gristle, Tres Cabrones revives a modified version of the original lineup, with founding drummer Mike Dillard returning and – Matt Lukin being unavailable due to permanent retirement from the music industry – Dillard's replacement, Dale Crover, giving up his percussion duties to tackle bass instead.
Moving Crover over to bass has had the unexpected effect of making the Melvins funky, with "Doctor Mule" and "City Dump" starting the record off with some of the juiciest riffs of the band's career. "American Cow" mines that proto-sludge sound from back when the band vied with Tad and Ultramega OK-era Soundgarden for grunge metal supremacy. "Dogs and Cattle Prods" has a buoyant party-like atmosphere, though at nine minutes it borders on overstaying its welcome. Capping it all off, "Stick 'Em Up Bitch" starts off with a Spirit of '77 punk rhythm before seguing into yet another Pot-O-Pies cover (a band most recently seen on, you guessed it, Everybody Loves Sausages).
Not everything works: "I Told You I Was Crazy" plods along for seven minutes of simmering sludge that never comes to a boil, Mike Dillard practically seeming to fall asleep behind his drum kit by the time its turgid sprawl finally wraps. A faithful – yet gratefully incomplete – rendition of "99 Bottles of Beer" is arguably the most pointless moment of the band's entire career.
Still, for a record that's largely made up of previously released material Tres Cabrones mostly holds up well. For those keeping score, four of the album's 12 tracks were released on last year's 1983 EP, though "Psycho-Delic Haze" appears in remixed form here. "Walter's Lips" is not only a cover of The Lewd that probably would have been better served appearing on Everybody Loves Sausages, but is also confusingly a remake of "Walter" from the Melvins' own Mangled Demos from 1983 release (a.k.a. the only previously recording that Mike Dillard appeared on prior to this reunion).
But wait, there's more! "City Dump", the execrable "99 Bottles of Beer" and "You're In the Army Now" were lifted from July's Gaylord single, and both "American Cow" and "Dr. Mule" are seeing their third release here! All of which is to say that Tres Cabrones is a pretty low-value proposition for the already-diligent Melvins collector, who may already have a full 3/4 of this material. That said, if you're one of those fans who intentionally holds out on the singles and EP's, knowing that it all eventually gets rounded up on a full length comp, then this is a pretty vital late period addition to the Melvins catalog. Just try not to picture Cheech & Chong when taking in "Tie My Pecker to a Tree".
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTy2bjZl3ng[/youtube]
