Sieg Howdy

by Rob TheakstonPicking up where 2004's Never Breathe What You Can't See left off, Jello and the boys return with the same formulas and dynamics found on the aforementioned album, and they are still doing it better than most people half their age. Kicking things off with the Alice Cooper classic "Halo of Flies," things are still as humid and dirty as ever with the Melvins, keeping things dark and warm with a layer of Jello on top for an interesting contrast. The rants are as visceral as ever, highlighted by "Lessons in What Not to Become" and "Those Dumb Punk Kids (Will Buy Anything)," where he ponders a world featuring "Malcolm in the Middle in the Misfits/or Mary-Kate and Ashley/Gary Coleman in Black Flag/Courtney in Nirvana at last/and Emmanuel Lewis back in action singing for the Germs." While he spins these humorous fantasies, he also chastises punk band reunions in the same song and remakes "California Über Alles," updating it for the 21st century using Arnold as the protagonist in place of Jerry Brown -- an interesting contradiction in every sense. Toward the end some interesting remixes by Dälek and Al Jourgensen round things off nicely. Hopefully this isn't the last installment in this fascinating collaboration.