4/25/1995 Toronto, Canada Opera House

[Anonymous]

Melvins Slow In A Loud Way

By KIERAN GRANT
Toronto Sun
Once again, The Melvins showed they are the escargot of the snail set.
Sunday at the Opera House the prototype grunge band proved they're still the slowest musical heavyweights on the block.
Working as a tight unit, each Melvin contributed to the steady momentum of the set: Guitarist and chief singer Buzz Osbourne - a.k.a. King B - held down the low end. Drummer Dale Crover held down the low end. Bassist Mark D held down the low end.
Next to The Melvins, Black Sabbath would sound like a coffee jingle. But they have always played it as slow as the Ramones played it fast.
That said, the band managed to feature three distinct musical personalities, particularly Crover, whose every drum beat felt like a kick in the gut.
Sunday's selection of barnyard ditties like Sweet Willy Rollbar, Goose Freight Train, Magic Pig Detective and Night Goat were drawn mostly from The Melvins' recent and relatively up-beat disc Stoner Witch.
But the band even played the album's rockers at a snail's pace - mind you, that's a giant, iron-clad snail complete with the obligatory trail of sludge.
While the slo-mo metal approach did grow a little wearisome at times, the notes still hung in the air with sonic power.
That power whipped up the mosh pit into a sea of heads bobbing and bodies flying. One fan even supplied some treble via a bird-call whistle that could have been mistaken as part of The Melvins' arsenal.