Back in stock! OK, I've never been the biggest fan of Jello Biafra's bands, I can take or leave most of his output (including his work with the Dead Kennedys - gasp!), but both of his collaboration albums with the Melvins are top notch, and Biafra hasn't had a band this tough back him up in years. With Jello's voice front and center, these albums are unmistakably punk rock affairs, and the Melvins do an amazing channeling of the Dead Kennedys brand of Reagan-era hardcore via their sludgy pummeling crunch (see the totally ripping "Plethysmograph" and "The Lighter Side of Global Terrorism"). Their steamrolling metallic heaviness might be a little subdued here, but it's still present, and some tracks ("McGruff The Crime Dog" and "Dawn Of The Locusts") are as heavy as anything they've released lately, especially the crushing closer "Locusts". Biafra addresses all kinds of post-Y2K issues with his signature acerbic style and cynical lyrics, hitting on post-9/11 paranoia, environmentalism, and terrorism (as in the quirkier track "Islamic Bomb"), and he still knows how to knock out an anthemic chorus that'll have hardcore punks and DK fans bouncing off the walls, like on "Enchanted Thoughtfist", which in my opinion is the best song that the Melvins/Biafra team-up produced. Both this and Sieg Howdy! have become my favorite Jello-fronted albums, and if yer looking for a fix of the Melvins at their speediest and most "punk", this is the album to go to.