Big Business - Head for the Shallow/Here Come The Waterworks

So the bassist/vocalist from Karp & the drummer from the Murder City Devils got together to jam with the Melvins one day. I wish stories about my life started that way...

Long story short, Big Business is the rhythm section for current Melvins line who happen to moonlight as their own, amazing band. In theory, a band entirely made up of rhythm section (think Om or early Sabbath, and yes, I consider Iommi pretty much all rhythm at that point) should be the ultimate doom jams. Somehow, BB manage to fucking play some of the least sludgy, most driving "doom" on the planet. With the meagre vocabulary at my disposal I guess I'd call it a corkscrewing, constantly shifting, eerie yet throbbing, driving, deep, metal grounded in hardcore with a surreal lyrical bent and an equal degree of menace and joy underlying the whole production.

How's that for some wannabe music major bullshit? A+ please.

Anyways, here's there first two full lengths. I found "Here Come the Waterworks" first and couldn't get it off my turntable for months. I think I found it last summer and I still put it on every time I hit the 2nd Chance Saloon. Just as the day was dawning will fucking haunt your every waking moment I shit you not. I'll Give You Something to Cry About" & "Another Beautiful Day in the Pacific Northwest" will creep you out to the point where you have to listen to them 7 times in a row, "Hands Up" will force you, at the ridicule of coworkers, friends, family, and enemies alike, to place your hands in an elevated position. Seriously, try it. It's fucking weird.

"Head for the Shallow" kicks it off with some sweet Morricone whistling steez and leaps right into the same swirling mass of heavy confusion perfected in "Waterworks." I can't write as much about this album because it all kind of blends together in my head with Waterworks but what I noticed first was the amazing balance they manage to strike between technicality and simplicity. Listen to it. There's really no solos anywhere, yet at the same time the album is never boring, constantly changing, and rarely are there two similar parts anywhere. The mixing and mastering does an amazing job of keeping the drums, bass, and vocals in check and not letting one drown out the others as it does in so many other doom albums.

Shit dudes, Big Business is where it's at. This is probably my #1 band to watch in the next couple of years. If you like this shit don't forget to check out the Melvins album "A Senile Animal" which also features Jared and Coady.

Big Business - Head for the Shallow
Big Business - Here Come The Waterworks