Nude with Boots continues the Melvins renaissance that kicked off with (A) Senile Animal, a shockingly cohesive and addictive record from one of the most willfully spotty bands in metal. Much credit is due to Big Business' Jared Warren and Coady Willis, who pushed grumpy old King Buzzo and Dale Crover into a punchier, tighter and heavier sound. Not that they're anywhere as friendly as as of the aforementioned bands that they inspired.
Nude with Boots is uglier and more obnoxious than (A) Senile Animal, even if it has some of the catchiest moments in Melvins history. "Billy Fish" has a riff and a chorus that STP would've taken to the charts, and the title track features almost playful drumming and possibly the least foreboding (major key? really?) guitar playing to ever escape King Buzzo's fingers. There are so many memorable measures on Nude with Boots that it often sounds like the band is parodying Soundgarden or Pearl Jam. The appropriately named "The Kicking Machine" crams 3 or 4 Zeppelin tunes into something that shakes and moves unlike anything that the Melvins have previously released. Elsewhere, the double drum kit assaults and King Buzzo's grimy riffage on "Suicide in Progress" spiral out of time, shooting down any chances of the band making a dent on rock radio.
The Melvins are a twisted bunch, and unwieldy tracks like their noirish take on "Dies Iraea," the minute-long "Flush" and the drone-fest "The Savage Hippy" could be construed as toss-offs the expense of the buyer. But Nude with Boots is an album, an odyssey of moods, noises, rhythms and awe-inspiring greatness. The bizzaro closer "It Tastes Better than the Truth" has one shouted, barely intelligible lyric repeated again and again, played over some militaristic drumming, several screams and what sounds like a guy freaking out over the phone. It's a collision of sound that GG Allin would be proud of. There's not a wasted second in Nude with Boots' 42 minutes, and if you like music, you should pick up this record.
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