Here Come the Waterworks

Album Review

Splitting their time between their day jobs as the rhythm section of the current lineup of the Melvins and their own duo work as Big Business, bassist Jared Warren and drummer Coady Willis may actually be doing more interesting work without their far better known boss. Their second album as Big Business, Here Come the Waterworks seems at first like it should be the logical culmination of stoner metal, eliminating almost all the guitar in favor of non-stop rhythm section sludge. But while stoner metal is an obvious touchstone, songs like the punky battle cry "Hands Up" are far more direct and the closing one-two punch of the epic slog "I'll Give You Something to Cry About" and the slow-build climax of "Another Beautiful Day in the Pacific Northwest" verge on Rush territory, especially when Willis is busting out moves that even Neil Peart would find showboating. Metal for the artsy kids, then.