Various Artists

We Reach: The Music Of The Melvins

[2/5] While it’s doubtful that Fractured Transmitter intended it this way, the 18 covers on We Reach: The Music Of The Melvins confirm what some have long believed: Melvins’ early contribution to modern dirge metal is undeniable, but as a relevant, consistent force, the trio haven’t really mattered since Kurt Cobain took their influence to his grave. Granted, hearing We Reach contributors like Mare take on “Night Goat” or Mastodon bite “The Bit,” or High On Fire team with Keelhaul for a take on “Oven,” you can grasp to what extent Melvins’ 1986-1993 material has also inspired the post-Nirvana generation to drop-tune their instruments and halve their bpm levels; but with the best of We Reach’s source material still in print, who’d actually rather hear a poorly recorded Dillinger Escape Plan version of “Honey Bucket?” (FRACTURED TRANSMITTER) Aaron Burgess