Like an American version of The Fall, The Melvins just keep trucking on, delivering regular packages of their patented heavy rock to the dedicated. The variation this time round is that this is the self-proclaimed Melvins Lite, sans electric bass, with Mr Bungle's Trevor Dunn instead stepping in to fill in those lower frequencies with a stand-up instrument.

Dunn's sometime avant-classical approach to the strings, sawing and screeching through parts of 'Inner Ear Rupture' for example, add interest to the normal Melvins template, but overall this is business as usual: freaky, stoner-esque riffs underneath Buzz Osbourne's early 70s moans - with Dale Crover continuing to underpin everything with his mobile percussion. They even have the timely sense to cover Wings' 'Let Me Roll It' from Band on the Run. Perhaps a little of the ongoing Macca mania will rub off. We make this studio album number 21 for The Melvins. With no sign of slowing down (they will attempt to play all 50 US states in 51 days later this year), Freak Puke is as good a starting place as any for an insight into their world.