Big Business: Here Come the Waterworks

Big Business
Here Come the Waterworks
Hydra Head
2007-03-06

Best known these days as the two young musicians who injected new life into the Melvins (check out 2006’s A Senile Animal for the electrifying results), the duo of bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis have been plying their trade as Big Business for several years now, attracting attention for their undeniably Melvins-esque blend of sludge metal and Lightning Bolt-inspired minimalist noise rock. But not only are the songs on Here Come the Waterworks massively heavy, dominated by Warren’s versatile basslines and Willis’s psychotic drum fills, but this stuff is shockingly catchy, from the inexplicable rave-up “Hands Up”, to the sinister vocal melodies of “Shields”, to the astounding primal prog rock of “Another Fourth of July…Ruined”. If that’s not enough, “Start Your Digging” swings like Type O Negative, while “I’ll Give You Something to Cry About” comes close to the monstrous epic stylings of Mastodon. More accessible than Lightning Bolt, and powerful enough to blow the hipster moustache of Jesse Keeler’s mug, this album is a creative breakthrough for the band, in addition to further proof that these dudes are the best thing to happen to the Melvins in years.

RATING 7 / 10