The Bootlicker

iTunes Review

The Bootlicker was the middle album of the Melvins’ Ipecac Trilogy that also comprised preceding LP The Maggot and a subsequent album entitled The Crybaby. The former is a bizarre and challenging listen overflowing with some of Buzz Osborne’s heaviest and sludgiest riffs, while the latter boasts guest musicians joining the band on covers. The Bootlicker is a much more accessible affair composed of surprisingly mellow songs. “Toy” opens with hushed, seductive rhythms as a serpentine bass riff slithers around mantras of sleigh bells, serving as a minute long intro to the nearly 11 minute long “Let It All Be,” a hypnotic song so pacific that not even a cowbell can make it rock. “Mary Lady Bobby Kins” also moves at a snail’s pace but with subtle swells in the middle that flirt with cutting loose before reverb-drenched, whisper-sung vocals rein it all in. This could very well be the Melvins’ must subdued album — from start to finish every song moves with such an unobtrusive calm, that The Bootlicker could be played to lull insomniacs to their slumber.