Thunderball

[JASONALEXANDER]

Decent stuff.

[black stallion]

Garth played bass on this didn't he? I agree though strange Crover wasn't on it, first proper Melvins album without him, I don't like that. Obviously it must've been recorded during Crover's recovery period but Buzz couldn't wait until he was fit enough to play bass? Or allow him to record his bass parts once he got healthy?

agreed!

[GiveMe45]

Garth played bass on this didn't he? I agree though strange Crover wasn't on it, first proper Melvins album without him, I don't like that. Obviously it must've been recorded during Crover's recovery period but Buzz couldn't wait until he was fit enough to play bass? Or allow him to record his bass parts once he got healthy?

agreed!

Not that I totally disagree, but just thinking about it in a different way....

I feel like Melvins 1983 is Buzz and Dillard getting to connect again.  Buzz said many times that he didn't have any negative feelings about Dillard choosing the family and career path.  Dale was a perfect fit for bass on the first  few 1983s, but I don't feel weird about him not being on this one.

[///////]

I feel like Melvins 1983 is Buzz and Dillard getting to connect again.

Yeah i feel like the whole 1983 thing is actually just something they both like to do to bond over. Getting to meet up as friends again, shoot the shit as they say and the byproduct of that is a new album.

[Dumpster D]

If I could only go back in time to 1983 I could write some pretty heavy rock n' roll stuff man.

I love all the goofy stuff Buzz says to Crack Dillard and Dale up in those interviews.

'Plum Bobbins' every fricken' shot!!!

[POOP GRENADE]

King of Rome is the balls

[glen]

thunderbowel.     I'll admit, it's better than I anticipated.  it's got it all over the previous 83 stuff.

[///////]

I'll admit, it's better than I anticipated.  it's got it all over the previous 83 stuff.

Have you heard the album or you just mean the King Of Rome song?

[glen]

I'll admit, it's better than I anticipated.  it's got it all over the previous 83 stuff.

Have you heard the album or you just mean the King Of Rome song?

I've heard now two songs I believe.     it sounds more 2005 MELVINS and less 1983 MELVINS.

[Bigval]

Garth played bass on this didn't he?

I stand corrected I just read that Buzz interview with Devolution Mag where he said he played bass on this.

[rimb]

Never thought I'd be this excited for a Melvins 1983 release but here we are!

[Chief Ten Beers]

Garth played bass on this didn't he?

I stand corrected I just read that Buzz interview with Devolution Mag where he said he played bass on this.

If it's really Buzz playing bass on this, I'm surprised it didn't get credited to Dale Nixon.
I haven't peeped the youtoob vids of this new one yet. Got the CD and vinyl on order.

[///////]

I just read that Buzz interview with Devolution Mag where he said he played bass on this.

One key bit of info i extracted from the interview was that Buzz chose bits of what Void Manes and Ni Maitres had recorded at home and simply decided for himself what to use and where to put it on the record. I had incorrectly imagined they intentionally added their bits after hearing the full songs.

[amazonAMAZON]

Oh damn, between the last album and this one are we entering Buzz's intense-sample-manipulation phase? Those are my favorite phases of NIN, Secret Chiefs, and Aphex, generally.

Nah, probably not Buzz now. I know Buzz works really hard but I don't think he could tolerate that kind of computerbound torture. Though he did do all that film editing. Maybe he sort of rediscovered music edits through that.

[///////]

Found a Thunderball review!
https://devolutionmagazine.co.uk/2025/03/19/review-melvins-thunderball/


Thunderball blasts forth with the three-minute headbanger King Of Rome and the kind of bombast we haven't heard from Melvins for a while. This isn't traditional Melvins, though; this is Melvins 1983 Buzz's third return to the original Melvins lineup with drummer Mike Dillard; this time, they're also augmented by electronic artists Void Manes and Ni Mâtres for gargling interludes and embellishments. These analogue abstractions draw us, via the wonderfully titled soundscape Vomit Of Clarity, into the third song, which is the epic Short Hair With A Wig, clocking in at eleven minutes. It broods with menace, circling you and eyeing you up like good food before Victory Of The Pyramids opens up into a sky-scraping, almost happy melody that turns on its heel to deliver the kind of foot to the floor classic rock catharsis that instantly lodges itself in your head, such is the catchiness of these full-bodied tracks as soon as you get too comfortable tapping your finger on the wheel they turn again into a doomy mammoth beast Buzz Osbourne is in fine voice here and his primal wail is powerful and authoritative. Melvins were never going to make a safe album, and whilst this collection contains memorable hooks, it always keeps you guessing. Venus Blood is the climax to this awesome album, which skitters and swerves on anticipation and suspense before giving way to spaced-out synths and abruptly stopping.This is what Melvins have built a forty-two-year career on, though. They eternally keep you guessing, and we are here to be surprised and confounded. In our humble opinion, it is definitely up there with the best Melvins albums. Go and seek it out!

Also some band quotes...

BUZZ - "We wanted to do something bombastic. We worked with noise artists Void Manes and Ni Maîtres. I put it among our best. You listen to this, Hostile Ambient Takeover, Bad Mood Rising, and our acoustic album Five Legged Dog. Listen to all that, and you get a real feel for what we've been doing,"

MIKE - "I really love this record. I think it's amazing—a lovely blend of beautiful noise and gut-busting grooves. Working with the Melvins is always a special treat."

VOID MANES - "I was quite gratified to spill a heap of abstract electronic debris into the desert for this record. Fragments diffused in the dust, reanimating into a disturbance underneath."

NI MAITRES - "Are you a sponge or a stone? Do you like to experience all facets of life, or do you shut yourself off from new experiences?"