UMUR "The Fickle Finger of Fate" is the debut full-length studio album by hard/heavy rock artist Dale Crover. The album was released through Joyful Noise Recordings in July 2017. Dale Crover is quite the prolific musician and while he is mostly known for his drummer role with Melvins, he has also contributed to the recordings of many other artists (Nirvana, Shrinebuilder...just to mention a few). It´s been fairly sparse with solo output by Crover through the years though with the Melvins 1992 Kiss-themed solo EP being the closest to a solo effort (and a few other minor releases), but with "The Fickle Finger of Fate" he finally got the time and mustered the energy to write and record enough material for a full-length solo release.

Not surprisingly the material on the 20 track album is quite the eclectic size. There´s everything from semi-avant garde sound experiments (usually very short tracks), to rock´n´roll tracks, to punk influenced tracks, to psychadelic tinged rock tracks. Crover plays and sings almost everything on the album, and while he is predominantly a drummer, this is not a "drummer solo album". The material aren´t centered around Crover showing off on the drums. These are actual songs, and some of them are pretty catchy tunes too. With that said, it´s impossible not to notice how great a drummer Crover is. His groove, his timing, his organic touch...beautiful. His voice isn´t particularly remarkable, but he can sing, and sing pretty well too.

The album was recorded by longtime Melvins engineer Toshi Kasai, and he has created a well sounding production, which suits the material perfectly. So upon conclusion Crover can be pretty proud of his first solo offering. It´s a quality release, which is catchy but also challenging enough to be interesting in the long run. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.