The Melvins new album Tarantula Heart is like nothing the band has ever done before. Probably the best record they’ve ever recorded. Certainly one of their weirdest. The five song album centers around the mammoth 19-minute opening track “Pain Equals Funny” and the noise laden heavy hitter “Working the Ditch.”
“The way we approached Tarantula Heart was different than any other Melvins’ album,” explains Buzz Osborne. “I had Dale and Roy Mayorga come in and play along with Steven and I to some riffs, then I took those sessions and figured out what parts would work and wrote new music to fit. This isn’t a studio approach we’ve ever taken. Usually we have the songs written BEFORE we start recording!”
“The majority of Tarantula Heart has dual drum parts,” adds long-time Melvins drummer Dale Crover. “We invited Roy Mayorga from Ministry to come record with us. Roy is an amazing drummer! We would discuss what we would do pattern wise, then we’d just go for it! Improvising riffs and trading off on drum fills.” “When the rest of the band heard these songs I’d created from the sessions, they were blown away,” said Buzz. “These were fully developed new songs that they’d never heard before that had seemingly appeared out of thin air. Presto!”
In actuality nothing appeared out of thin air. Buzz spent hours and hours with the drum tracks by himself writing songs to what he was hearing drum wise.
This weird musical process created an album that sounds like musical magic in fact Melvins/Redd Kross bassist Steven McDonald describes Tarantula Heart as “An album so magical, I helped create it without knowing it was happening. It’s definitely the weirdest album I’ve ever been a part of.”
Also appearing on Tarantula Heart is We Are The Asteroid guitar player Gary Chester, who the Melvins recently toured with and, was a previous labelmate of the band’s, having been a part of the legendary Austin-based band, Ed Hall, who were also on Boner Records.
Tarantula Heart was recorded, mixed and produced by long time Melvins’ collaborator Toshi Kasai at The Sound of Sirens Studio in Los Angeles. Kasai jokingly describes this incarnation of the Melvins as “Five sons a bitches.” Buzz says of Kasai, “I can’t imagine making records without him and I can’t wait to start on the next one.”
Without question Tarantula Heart is a huge milestone for the Melvins. it’s rock solid sound wise and looks great with brilliantly executed cover art by Mackie Osborne.