The Maggot

[Galvano]

I don't think the drums are buried actually.
I was mainly talking about  sudden distorted drums, hihats flying around everywhere in the stereo image. the switching between small/large rooms.
The drums are mixed fine, it's the guitar that's really loud from time to time.

[glen]

first of all: brand spankin new member out of MI.
second of all: what better place to start than THE MAGGOT?
goddamn genious.  the dirtiness (is dirteness a for real word?) of this album puts goosebumps on top of goosebumps.  yeah, this album has "fuzzy" production but..........   isn't that the point?

[klump]

first of all: brand spankin new member out of MI.
second of all: what better place to start than THE MAGGOT?
goddamn genious.  the dirtiness (is dirteness a for real word?) of this album puts goosebumps on top of goosebumps.  yeah, this album has "fuzzy" production but..........   isn't that the point?

Yeah! a perfect debut post!
stay positive like that

[Fantomastro]

I think the reason I like The Maggot and H.A.T. so much is because when you play them straight through, they just flow so well. One song goes into the next almost seamlessly. Kind of like a concept album. They're both very different from each other, but neither has a weak spot, every song sounds awesome.

I totaly agree. The only Melvins album that is a unity. And the only album on which I love ALL songs. It's not that I really dislike a Melvins song, but on every album there is at least 1 track that I skip.

[Dr Geek]

I like this album, except for the fact that there's some really long bits of boringness, like the first 2 minutes of Manky and the end of AMAZON, plus the obvious fact that you can't hear the drums.

[klump]

I like this album, except for the fact that there's some really long bits of boringness, like the first 2 minutes of Manky and the end of AMAZON, plus the obvious fact that you can't hear the drums.

get some decent headphones!

this record was a reaction to all the pussy daterape metal bands at Ozzfest.

this is in the style of VENOM, Judy Priest and Mot

[Pelican]

The Maggot was my first Melvins album. I saw them on that tour, and was forever hooked on the band. I listened to that album all day every day for a long time. I was blown away.

I guess the drums don't stand out as much like on some other albums, but I still think they sound great. I think the sound works well like that, it creates more of an atmosphere, and they're not distracting you or focusing on the drums, something that happens all the way through HAT. The drums on See How Pretty are about the most powerfull thing I've ever heard. The drums make that song sound like the apocolypse is here.

I'm not a musician and I don't have any experience recording music, but I do have a good set of speakers, and I love the drums on The Maggot. I think the album is perfect.

Seeing them play Manky live two years ago was one of the most brutal things I've ever seen, well musically anyway. I wish they'd put more of The Maggot in their set list.

Oh, and I love the slow boring parts. They're perfect for setting you up for one hell of a payoff.

[klump]

the melvins, masters of suspense

[Joe Deutrom]

The album definitely has atmosphere. A lot of reverb on the album. A lot of little things going on, kind of buried in the mix. It was a good Melvins album for Kevin to debut on.

[Vcavallo]

move along if you ain't in the mood for a bit-o readin'.
[anybody else here love bit-o-honeys??]

i was sort of getting down on the melvins lack of experimentation in another thread (contrasting them to the residents[which isn't fair, by the way]), and i was tempted to think that "while the melvins are great at suspense, there are others that are better," when i realized something great....while the melvins aren't specialists at everything that makes great music great (experimentation, structure, mix, suspense, ambience...etc etc) they are damn good at all of them equally! which is something you can't say about other bands.  
to use a familiar example, while the residents are WILDY creative and satisfying in that regard, they've never lingered on one thing long enough for me to really start to love that one thing, and other bands that are too suspenseful have you wasting your time waiting for everything, and providing very little.
in response to my own writing in the new york times thread:  i think, for me, the thing about the melvins responsible for my worship is the fact that they do EVERYTHING 75% perfectly, and that's great!  this is the type of attribute though, that is logically at the root of feelings of this sort:
'i wish the melvins did this more....., or that more...'
but the truth of this characteristic emerges when you see that because you can accuse them of all these things, they possess a percent of each quality in question, though not 100%.  
the melvins are VERY well rounded, with heavy emphasis in certain fields(all the ones i[WE] like!!).
and that is why i love the melvins.

an essay by little Vincent Cavallo, Grade 4.

[Leroy]

i don't see how people consider the production on Maggot "shitty".  Honestly, if anyone here has recorded in a studio, it would cost thousands of dollars for your album to sound even close to the same quality.  Hardly any home recording studios sound that good, and I know from experience because i have one.  not that home studios are bad, but i'm just being realistic.

[Joe Deutrom]

I have no problems with the production. I hope to see the Melvins again with this Big Business project and I am hoping they play more Maggot material. Put Queen on the shelf and play Amazon!

[glen]

see?   there's my boy vin at his finest.  I'm going to go ahead and agree with the writings of little vincent except let's knock that 75% up to somewheres around 90%.  also: MELVINS well rounded?  is that a comment about unky Buzz's waistline?      okay, maybe that wasn't so funny.  please withdraw that last half-assed joke from the records.  
was I supposed to mention the maggot somewhere?  oops.

[Vcavallo]

MELVINS well rounded?  is that a comment about unky Buzz's waistline?

not to sound like a total fanboy loser discussing things like this, but it is interesting how buzz has fluctuated in size over the years, ain't it?  i'm curious to see what he looks like this tour.
i totally failed to not sound like a fanboy, didn't i?

[glen]

vin!!!   don't feel so bad. I actually had enough fan boy loser in me to have dale autograph my showbill in detroit and the pathetic thing is I am 32 years old!!!  autograph seeking is the action of a 14 year old girlie.
dats not so good.              anywho.......  point being I noticed dale to be a bit more portly than I had expected.    oohhh good lord, is this MELVINS or backstreet boyz.  so the thread has become a discussion of band weight.   I started this. apologies.  I'll be better next time.