Review: The Melvins’ Everybody Loves Sausages is a Spot-On Covers Album

Cover albums are always a tricky thing; to take a collection of songs that have already been done and putt one’s own spin on the overall sound of the track can be exceptionally hit or miss. Still, The Melvins are not exactly known for shying away from many “tricky things.” In fact, as the band as a whole gets older, they seem to reach toward more and more of the unorthodox. Only in that sense can I say that Everybody Loves Suasages is a step back. Melvins Lite has died (for now); Long Live The Melvins.

I’m going to start off by saying that if you were familiar with The Melvins but not any of the songs on this album, you wouldn’t necessarily think it was an album of covers. The overall feel to the album is undeniably Melvins, with a few quirky and welcomed exceptions. The first of those exceptions comes in the form of their cover of Queen’s popular “You’re My Best Friend.” Buzz Osborne takes a step back from the mic on this one and allows Tweak Bird’s Caleb Benjamin to lend his vocals for an extremely light and airy pop track. This comes immediately after the heavy as fuck Venom Cover “Warhead”, which seems to be the most fitting track to open up the album. Their version of Ram Jam’s take on “Black Betty” has had a decidedly grungy make over, while still staying true to the songs original roots. The same can be said for their execution of Roxy Music’s hauntingly epic “In Every Dreamhouse a Heartache.”

There will always be those who say that when a band starts doing full cover albums, they’re trying to make up for something; to hold on to the last dregs of what they may have once been, trying to make a project from scraps. I in no way feel that this is the case here. Most of these songs covered are not exceptionally well known songs and come from numerous and varied genres. Hell, “Female Trouble” was originally sung by the iconic overweight cross dressing phenomenon Devine for a John Waters movie of the same name. The Melvins did not record this album because they felt it was they’re last go at it – if that were the case, I sincerely doubt they’d have come out with anything at all. No; this album was made as a tribute to songs and artists that influenced them as a band and helped to, in one way or another, mold their signature sound. Everybody Loves Sausages is at heart, entirely Melvins and even though they’re recording other people’s material, they’ve done a damn good job at doing each song justice.

Everybody Loves Sausages is out now. Stream the track “You’re My Best Friend” here and purchase the album here.