Under a Billion Suns

For 18 years, Mudhoney has proved to be one of the most consistently electrifying acts to survive the grunge implosion, whatever that was. The wolfish howls of singer Mark Arm, soulful splatterings of guitarist Steve Turner, and frenzied fills of drummer Dan Peters have produced nine albums to date, most of which are considered neo-garage classics. Original bassist Matt Lukin has been replaced by the inimitable Australian Guy Maddison. “Under A Billion Suns” is performed with the same amplified urgency of their previous work. Mudhoney has never swayed from their vision of making really loud rock, and this album is no exception. Produced by three notable knobsters, Phil Ek, Johnny Sangster, and Tucker Martine, and boasting a blaring horn section, this record exposes a more snidely political-fueled side of our shaggy heroes, but one revealed through the invariables of the Mudhoney recipe: thick, soggy punk riffs and underrated guitar dynamics, psychedelic tangents! ,! and snot-nosed finger pointing. Loud and fierce.It may be cute and cuddly to link Mudhoney with the grunge generation of the Pacific Northwest’s early nineties, but even after a cup of coffee in the majors the Seattle foursome continues to endure more then a decade after the genre was deemed defunct. Album number nine could be its most electrifying record since Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, contrasting a band with a burgeoning social conscience, but one that shows no signs of growing old. Barreling along with the sodden riffs of guitarist Steve Turner and a rhythm section that overflows in chaos (see the instrumental “A Brief Celebration of Indifference”), vocalist Mark Arm is aping maturity, spitting a soured societal fury over D.C. demigods (“Hard-on For War”), plodding expectations (“Where is the Future”) and repeat hangovers (“Let’s Drop In,” complete with female harmonies and Memphis-style horns). Eighteen years have come and gone, but Mudhoney remains. –Scott Holter

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