Music review: Melvins - Lysol (1992)

The legendary album that invented drone metal and probably the best argument against streaming since the legal battle with the household detergent brand seems to be the cause of its absence from every platform except Apple Music (!?).

Said album is made of two parts: the groundbreaking "Hung Bunny"/"Roman Dog Bird" epic (that you can find standalone on YouTube) and the closing tracks including three twisted covers (one of Flipper and two of Alice Cooper).

That first one deserves its hype and is, in my sincere opinion, better than every band it influenced, be it Sunn O))), Sleep or Boris. It's an exercise in redefining heaviness and sloth that begins with 11 minutes of ritualistic drone - a wall of sound made of brainwashing guitar/bass, ambient chanting and the rare percussion - that progressively leads to more activity until we're rewarded with heavy-as-lead drumming and plaintive vocals that mesh perfectly with the previous sound.

Most importantly, it doesn't need drugs to avoid dipping into boredom, something that can't be said of most self-indulgent drone.

Then the covers: "Sacrifice" is part of the album's peak, a depressive dirge version of an already negative punk anthem slowed down to molasses speed. Then the (much improved upon) Alice Cooper tracks offering a refreshing closer together with "With Teeth". This isn't filler at all, unlike what some people say.