Gluey Porch Treatments

iTunes Review

There was no precedent for Gluey Porch Treatments, the 1985 debut from the Melvins, native sons of Aberdeen, Washington. Rock ‘n’ roll had produced heavy music of all sorts, but nothing this slow or disaffected. The Melvins’ particular brand of heavy guitar music is a direct reflection of their hometown. In the early 1900s Aberdeen was nicknamed “the Hellhole of the Pacific” and “the Port of Missing Men,” because of its high murder rate. It is a xenophobic, economically hopeless, overcast backwater, and Gluey Porch Treatments wholeheartedly embodies the experience of living there, especially if you were a young misfit punk rocker. It’s easy to see why the album had such a deep impact on the young Kurt Cobain. While rock ’n’ roll had a long tradition of hostility and rebellion, “Eye Flys,” “Steve Instant Neuman,” and “Over from Under the Excrement” gave new definition to feelings of inner doom. The Melvins incorporate elements of Swans, Black Sabbath, Venom, and Public Image Ltd., but Gluey Porch Treatments imitates nothing.