There's not enough space in this review to give a background on the Melvins. Hopefully people who are reading this review already know how long the band has been around and how massive their discography is. Another year, another Melvins album! "Hold It In" is the first album to feature Butthole Surfers members Paul Leary and Jeff Pinkus. They join permanent members King Buzzo and Dale Crover, replacing (at least temporarily) Big Business members Jared Warren and Coady Willis. Who knows what the state of the lineup is since bassists come and go in this band like Spinal Tap drummers.
I've really enjoyed the last few albums -- okay, the last few "standard" albums that the band has done: "A Senile Animal," "Nude with Boots" and "The Bride Screamed Bloody Murder." Their collaboration with Trevor Dunn, as Melvins Lite, on "Freak Puke" was particularly good. "Hold It In" has elements of all of those. As with any Melvins album, the band does whatever they want and will basically try anything. This doesn't stop them from rocking out on the opener "Bride of Crackenstein" and "Brass Cupcake." If rock radio had balls, they might actually play either of these tracks.
The band does get creative on "You Can Make Me Wait," a great pop-rocker with the lead vocal done entirely through a vocoder, thus keeping it strange as well as catchy. "Eyes on You" is the best stalker song that Ween never recorded. The closer "House of Gasoline" is the standard expansive experimental piece that has plenty of the drone and odd sounds the Melvins enjoy.
How does "Hold It In" fit in with the rest of the catalog? It's similar to what they have been doing lately, but it does harken back to albums like "Stag" that had catchier songs mixed with left-field compositions. Basically it's just another great Melvins record. How can you not like an album with a song called "Piss Pisstoferson"?!
