Listen: Welcome Back, Melt-Banana We Love U

Metal people quickly embraced Melt-Banana in the ’90s cuz we populated the shows that they opened for Mr. Bungle. It was the latter’s tour for their weird second album (an album-length homage to John Zorn’s Naked City); the former kinda filed onto the stage, plugged in, and shocked everybody. It sounded like their songs had been disfigured by a blender, then tossed into a clothes dryer gone haywire. A grindcore album skipping away then hit by lightning. We loved guitarist Ichirou Agata, who wore a surgical mask while using a slide and whammy pedal together. It was heavy and wild.

Their next album Charlie was 1998’s best, though since then Melt-Banana concerts and albums kinda belong to punk dudes and those bros who wish to be Japanese (even a 2007 tour with Tool lol). But like the sands of time, the paths of M-B and alt-metal (and post-metal) are converging again here in 2013. It makes sense: Each M-B album ventures further into noise and soundscape; in the wake of their home country’s huge earthquake and nuclear disaster, their sense of song has matched their daring and their energy. Meanwhile, metal is shoegazey as ever. So maybe u jam their very real new album fetch? Find out at Spin.

Melt-Banana’s fetch is out October 1. Pre-order here.