Melvins

Melvins

For a band that's spent most of its career playing largely the same riff faster and slower, the Melvins have made it work. After a few questionable efforts, 2006's (A) Senile Animal brought them to the brink of thud-rock catchiness, and Nude With Boots, their second effort with Big Business' Jared Warren and Coady Willis, continues to muscle up that foursome, the BBs proving the long-lost rhythm section to drummer Dale Crover and guitarist Buzz Osborne. "The Kicking Machine" opens with Zep double-drum thunder in the red while vintage Buzzo guitar snakes along, but "Billy Fish," "Dog Island," and "The Stupid Creep" are fairly standard-issue chugga-chugga, leaving the middle section a bit limp. The last two songs – Butthole Surfers nod "The Savage Hippy" and killer Buzzo scream-fest "It Tastes Better Than the Truth" – find the foursome just getting warmed up. (The Melvins and Big Business hit Emo's clothed Aug. 22.)