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Bad Religion - New Maps of Hell (Deluxe)

Mudhoney. I am very aware of their legacy: Formed in the late `80s, they practically invented grunge and influenced little bands like, say, Nirvana. But while their peers cashed in, they never received much worldwide acclaim, despite a stint on major label Reprise. A perfect example: I don’t own any of their classic albums. Sure, I was never huge into grunge; I never bought a Pearl Jam album, I had two Soundgarden albums but sold them both during my silly “exclusively punk” phase in high school, and I really just liked Nirvana because they seemed more on the faster, screamy, punk side of the genre. But still, it goes to show that they never reached the average teenager audience the way their peers did.

So I don’t have a back catalogue to compare this to besides some MP3s I tracked down. It doesn’t matter entirely, as the Seattle band sounds practically the same in their 18th year as they did in their first. Under a Billion Suns finds the aging rockers not sounding too aged, with hard, fuzzy, intentionally sloppy rock á la the Stooges throughout. The album as a whole actually seems more ‘grunge’ than some of the stuff I have found from their albums of the ‘grunge era,’ which itself seemed less sludgy and more punk, and some tracks that were acoustic and twangy.

The album’s start of booming drums gives a quick glimpse of things to come in “Where Is the Future;” these guys are not softening up. A highlight of the album, “Hard-On for War” shows a little different side of the quartet, a political side, which also pops up in a few other tracks. They tend to take a different spin on things; here it’s a twisted take about why “dirty old men are always pushing for war.” Another track that sticks out later on is “In Search Of…” which explores murky territory with a slow groove and classic Ozzy-style vocals.

I was surprised by some of the additional instruments found here. Splatty synths appear in the bridge of “Empty Shells,” vibraphone on “Endless Yesterday” and horns frequently throughout the album, an addition they tested on their last outing, 2002’s Since We’ve Become Transluscent. One of my favorite moments on the album is in the closer “Blindspots” where a pep-band worthy horn lick (complete with an awesome rip) descends into chaos as all the horns separate from the unison part and the album ends in shambles. I love these horn moments, because the raw nature of them combined with Mudhoney’s fuzzy guitars and pounding drums reminds me of Cougars.

Another way that Mudhoney try to keep things fresh is through a recording technique that brought them success on their last album: instead of one giant studio session in which everything gets laid down, they went in spurts, and with different producers. In early June last year they met with Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse) and recorded four tracks, then mid-June met with Johnny Sangster (the Posies) and laid down three more. Then early July they put the last four tracks to tape with Tucker Martine. But honestly, I cannot tell a difference between each track's production or song style.

All that being said (and legend aside) this album doesn’t do it for me. I like the music; I think it’s mostly the vocal style of Mark Arm kind of talking or singing in unison with the guitar chords that turns me off; in fact, I think my favorite song on the album is the instrumental “A Brief Celebration of Indifference.” Anyway, if you are a long-time Mudhoney fan, you will like this album because it’s more of the same. Give me crap if you must, but I think that maybe after all these years they should take a different approach and be an instrumental band with full-time horns carrying the melody. I’d listen.






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    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 11:06 AM (EST)

    their cover of hate the police was great

    Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 8:02 AM (EST)

    It's not like Mudhoney are obscure, surely this site has a reviewer with at least a passing interest in the band?

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 11:11 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    if you have no prior knowledge of the band, and the writing of the review indicates that the album score is based on this lack of knowledge, then dont review it.

    Posted by SlackMFr on 2006-03-08 20:59:06
    My Score:

    I bought this today, listened to it twice and I think it's their best album since "My Brother The Cow". This is a good record, but they'll never top their early stuff.

    Posted by ghostmonkey on 2006-03-08 13:53:44

    Mudhoney recently played "Superfuzz Bigmuff" in its entireity at a UK gig - i always prefered "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" and their cover of the Angry Samoans "You Stupid Asshole" needs to be checked out.

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 9:14 AM (EST)

    "Superfuzz/Bigmuff/ the self titled and March of the Fuzz are all worth checking out right away. If you get into that stuff, you might get into the stuff on Reprise. I hate to use the word punk, but when it comes to grunge bands, these guys were the most true to the diy ethics associated with it."

    love superfuzz... that and actually MY BROTHER THE COW are the best in my humble opinion.
    -Janelle

    Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 9:12 AM (EST)

    better than their last one hopefully. that blew

    my fave band from that era

    Posted by fistchode on 2006-03-08 07:24:52

    grunge is a made up genre, for those not aware.

    Posted by SlackMFr on 2006-03-07 20:19:41
    My Score:

    Mudhoney fucking hit hard and heavy every damn time, I'll always dig them. "Here Comes Sickness" fucking owns!

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 8:15 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    Fucking retarded comment or what? You can still give your view on a record regardless of a band's history. That's like saying "if you have no knowledge of this artist's entire back catalogue, you can't listen to it".

    Mudhoney > that guy.

    Posted by greg0rb on 2006-03-07 18:02:50

    I'm a staff reviewer...they send stuff to us to review...how many times do we have to go over this, people?!!
    -Greg

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 5:54 PM (EST)
    My Score:

    you have no prior knowledge of mudhoney's work, yet you review their album. stupid.

    Posted by gladimnotemo on 2006-03-07 16:35:28

    I don't know if this is really "grunge", though. I've heard March to Fuzz, and it's obvious they were way more influenced by punk than most grunge (which added lame "rock" into it). They cover Crucifix, Adolescents, etc. etc. It's great.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 2:05 PM (EST)

    Superfuzz/Bigmuff/ the self titled and March of the Fuzz are all worth checking out right away. If you get into that stuff, you might get into the stuff on Reprise. I hate to use the word punk, but when it comes to grunge bands, these guys were the most true to the diy ethics associated with it.

    Posted by niveK82 on 2006-03-07 13:30:36
    My Score:

    my score is for ihatejones's score

    Posted by IHateJones on 2006-03-07 10:28:21
    My Score:

    Score is for people scoring things unrelated to the subject matter

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 7:29 AM (EST)
    My Score:

    Score is for their best of and rarities compilation "March To Fuzz". Truly awesome.

    Posted by Godfather on 2006-03-07 05:46:15
    My Score:

    score is for the early 90s grunge scene

    Posted by kingofpain on 2006-03-07 04:32:51

    These guys were great in Black Sheep.

    I just finished reading the Mudhoney chapter of "Our Band Could Be Your Life" about half an hour ago, and at the end it basically said that the band started off by releasing their best song "Touch Me I'm Sick" and were never able to match it.

    Posted by xote on 2006-03-07 01:48:51
    My Score:

    I havent heard this but the review makes me want to hear it... and i do like mudhoney.

    for some reason that makes me want to say good review I liked it.

    Posted by IHateJones on 2006-03-07 01:33:09

    Thanks for reviewing this, the Pitchfork review tells you NOTHING

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 1:12 AM (EST)

    I like this band.

    Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at 12:54 AM (EST)

    honestly, the only one i really like by these guys is superfuzz bigmuff/early singles, though their other stuff is generally pretty likeable though not all that great. they're really goofy and laughable though, and this one sounds like it's even more so.

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