''(A) Senile Animal'' is the 15th album by American rock band

Melvins Melvins (sometimes the Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

, released on October 10, 2006 on

Ipecac Recordings Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999, by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles, ex-lead singer of DUH, ex-employee of Mercury Records) and Mike Patton (Faith N ...

. After bassist

Kevin Rutmanis Kevin Rutmanis (born October 17, 1958) is an American bass guitarist. He is of Latvian descent. Before getting into music, he was a student teacher. In late 1985, along with his younger brother Sandris Rutmanis, Thor Eisentrager, and then Jayh ...

' departure the two remaining members of the Melvins joined forces with

Big Business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

, a duo consisting of

Jared Warren Jared Michael Warren is an American musician who is the bassist of Big Business (alongside drummer Coady Willis) and formerly the Melvins. He is also currently the bassist for Unwound. Career Warren was the founding bassist of the Tumwater ...

on bass and

Coady Willis Coady Willis is an American drummer and a member of the rock/metal bands Big Business, High on Fire, White Shit, and Melvins. He previously played in the bands Dead Low Tide, Broadcast Oblivion, and The Murder City Devils. Willis and Big B ...

on drums.

Background

On the line-up change, frontman

Buzz Osborne Roger "Buzz" Osborne (born March 25, 1964), also known as King Buzzo, is an American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and golfer. He is a founding member of the rock band Melvins, as well as Fantômas (band), Fantômas and Venomous Concept. Biog ...

spoke to ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' in 2008, stating: A music video for "The Talking Horse" was made and shown in 2007. The song "A History of Bad Men" appears in the film ''

I Know Who Killed Me ''I Know Who Killed Me'' is a 2007 American psychological thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson, from a screenplay by Jeff Hammond. The film stars Lindsay Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, and Brian Geraghty. The film's story revolves ...

'' and in the TV show ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American Anthology series, anthology Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto for the premium cable network HBO. The series premiered on January 12, 2014, and ...

''.

Musical style

''(A) Senile Animal'' features Melvins' signature

sludge Sludge (possibly , or some dialect related to slush) is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. It can be produced as a settled sus ...

and

stoner metal Stoner rock, also known as stoner metal or stoner doom, is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of doom metal with psychedelic rock and acid rock. The genre emerged during the early 1990s and was pioneered foremost by Kyuss and Slee ...

sound.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Greg Prato noted: "Although they started out primarily as a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band that slowed down the riffs, the Melvins have also always mixed in

prog rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

-like bits, such as the tricky rhythms of 'Blood Witch' and the

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

-ish 'The Hawk.' The album also contains some of the group's most straightforward compositions in some time, including the metallic/ new wave-ish ditty 'A History of Drunks.

Critical reception

's Greg Prato wrote: "The transfusion of new blood has made one of rock's gnarliest beats even -- gnarlier!". Drowned in Sound's Grant Purdum stated: "In lieu of live albums and collaborations aplenty, ''A Senile Animal'' couldn't have snarled to life at a better time."

Track listing

Vinyl edition

The vinyl edition was released as a 4-LP box set from

Hydra Head Records Hydra Head Records was an independent record label specializing in extreme metal music, founded in New Mexico by Aaron Turner (the frontman of Isis) in 1993. It had another imprint, Hydra Head Noise Industries, which specialized in experimental ...

. Each LP featured music on one side and an etching on the other. This was limited to 300 copies in a variety of colors and designs.

Personnel

– drums, vocals *

Dale Crover Dale Crover (born October 23, 1967) is an American rock musician. Crover is best known as the drummer for Melvins and has also been the drummer for Men of Porn, Shrinebuilder, Crystal Fairy and, for a brief time, Nirvana. He is also guitar ...

– drums, vocals *

– bass guitar, vocals * King Buzzo – guitar, vocals

Additional personnel

* Toshi Kasai – engineer, mixing * John Golden – mastering * Mackie Osborne – art * Kevin Willis – band photos

Charts

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

(North America)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senile Animal, A Melvins albums 2006 albums Ipecac Recordings albums