Jello Biafra & the Melvins – Never Breathe What You Can’t See

Don’t Hold Your Breath…

What do you get when you combine a forefather of U.S. punk with long-running noisy doomrock pioneers? A supergroup for a stronger America! Jello Biafra from Dead Kennedys fame and the Melvins both have lists of collaborations longer than the 9/11 Commission Report. It was only a matter of time before these warped minds would come together for an album oozing with politically-tinged madness. Never Breathe What You Can’t See takes the epic punk of DK’s masterpiece Frankenchrist and the raging rock of Melvins’ recent offering Hostile Ambient Takeover, puts them in a blender set to “electro-shock,” and serves up a frothy calculated chaotic concoction. Songs like “Plethysmograph” and “McGruff the Crime Dog” have a solid rock’n’roll backbone to propel Biafra’s vocals about America’s sick obsession with big cars, oil, terrorism and the perversion of morality. America’s tradeoff of privacy for security is an ever-present theme, as well as Biafra’s twisted spin on the current state of the global political pressure-cooker. King Buzzo zeros in on East Bay Ray’s classic DK guitar style on “Islamic Bomb,” while guest guitarist Adam Jones (Tool) brings some of his unmistakable influence to the brilliant track “Caped Crusader.”

Solid pacing makes this scathing assault more powerful. After starting with a quick rock jab, the album dips and swerves through punk blasts and progressive buildups. The very best parts of everyone involved are showcased on Never Breathe, making it one of the strongest collaborations that any of these veterans have embarked upon in a long time. And with America’s political climate heading in the direction it is, we can only expect more to come from each of these radicals…