KING BUZZO WITH TREVOR DUNN

Gift Of Sacrifice IPECAC RECORDINGS

Melvins and Mr. Bungle members get themselves in a twist

Surprisingly, Gift Of Sacrifice

is more than just Melvins’ Buzz Osborne pissing about with Mr. Bungle’s Trevor Dunn for half an hour. It’s genuinely quite good; first song proper, Housing, Luxury, Energy, is a right intestine-twister, Trevor’s stand-up bass weeping as if someone’s made a terrible decision in a Norwegian crime series. Buzz’s voice drips with melodrama.

It’s all nightmarish hightension. Random noises often capsize twisted folk ditties, which in turn are curdled by Buzz’s knackered acoustic guitar. Most jarring is Mock She’s sunshiny, Dad-on-the-front-porch strumming, upended by Trevor’s discordant picking and John Zorn-style scrapes. It’s uncomfortable, but Gift Of Sacrifice sees King Buzzo tighten his solo strings – figuratively, of course. His actual guitar strings sound like they’re made of spaghetti. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Tomahawk, John Zorn, Angels Of Light ALEC CHILLINGWORTH