Unitron The second best grunge album of 1989.

Out of all of the classic 80's and 90's Melvins albums, Ozma seems to go past the radar, being stuck between the groundbreaking Gluey Porch Treatments and the classic Bullhead. However, I've always felt that Ozma shows the band at their grungiest and sludgiest best.

Most of the songs are short, with only two songs going over 3 minutes, but shattering. Dale Crover's drumming lumbers along and is straight to the point, but thunderously powerful. Don't know if it's the production, how much force he's using, or both, but I'd say this is one of the heaviest drum sounds I've heard on any album. Special mention to the cymbal tapping of Revulsion / We Reach, the relatively quiet tapping makes the pounding that much more effective.

Buzz's dooming power riffing and Lori Black's heavy bass also drawls along, and the former's always eccentric vocal styling creates the definitive Melvins experience. Just turn on opener Vile, and you'll know what you're in for. Other favorite tracks include Oven, Green Honey, instrumental Love Thing, and the fantastic grunge sludge cover of The Cars' Candy-O.

Short and sludgy at it's finest.

UMUR "Ozma" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US hard rock/sludge metal act Melvins. The album was released through Boner Records in 1989. The band are still a three-piece but Lori Black has replaced Matt Lukin as the band´s bassist. The original vinyl version of the album features 17 tracks while the CD version of the album features the full "Gluey Porch Treatments (1987)" album as bonus tracks.

Compared to the raw and unpolished debut album "Gluey Porch Treatments (1987)", "Ozma" is slightly more refined. We´re still talking raw, garage sounding hard rock/sludge metal with incredibly heavy riffs, adventurous drumming and a combination of raw and higher pitched "odd" sounding vocals, but it all come together a bit better this time around and "Ozma" is overall a more consistent album than "Gluey Porch Treatments (1987)". As mentioned the sound production is raw and garage sounding but it suits the music really well. The odd clicky bass sound might take some getting used to, but I guess it´s part of the album´s charm.

Quite a few of the 17 tracks on the album are very short. In fact most of the tracks on the 35:15 minutes long album, are between 1 and 2 minutes long and only two tracks exceed the 3 minutes mark. The many short tracks initially make "Ozma" a bit hard to get into, but once the tracks fall into place, it´s not a big issue although a couple of the tracks do feel a bit "unfinished". The band play a rather original sounding music style and while I´m always tempted to give praise to Dale Crover, because he is an incredibly skilled and adventure seeking drummer, it´s those ultra heavy guitar riffs courtesy of Buzz Osborne, that floor me every time I listen to a Melvins album. That man is a riff meister extraordinaire...

"Ozma" is overall a very entertaining and relatively strong release by Melvins and although the album is still a bit imature compared to later material by the band, both when it comes to songwriting, musicianship and sound production, it´s actually part of the album´s charm. The primal joy of playing music and experimenting with compositional ideas are so apparent here, that it´s hard not to admire Melvins for their approach to making music. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.