Big Business

Here Come the Waterworks

(Hydra Head)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

Lots of folks in the business of making sludgy & heavy music use The Melvins as a touchstone. Jared Warren and Coady Willis did one better: actually joining The Melvins. Warren initially made a name for himself in the Pac Northwest sonic bruisers Karp, while Willis played in the Sub Pop-released punk outfit Murder City Devils. None of this guaranteed that Warren and Willis would make compelling music when they came together as Big Business, but it did give a bit of a hint as to what they might sound like.

Here Come the Waterworks is their second album together, and, instead of throwing a curveball or a change-up, it’s another blazing fastball right down the middle. “Just as the Day was Dawning” sets the tone perfectly, as Willis rips right into the sort of galloping percussion that, if played at appropriate volumes while driving, will cause a sharp increase on the listener’s speedometer (or, for those of us in places where speed isn’t much of an option, will serve to either amplify or pacify road rage—depending on the person). As for Warren, he sounds agitated to no end, barking his vocals with absolutely no concern for the vocal cords of anyone trying to sing along. But this isn’t some lame screamo act; Big Business are also in the business of melody, and their best songs are as catchy as they are bruising.

Later in the album, Warren and Willis seemed to have thought “Hmm, maybe we should make this sucker heavier. And grander.” “I’ll Give You Something to Cry About” is the requisite epic, clocking in around 9:00 and gradually down-shifting into an extended psychedelic jam. “Another Beautiful Day in the Pacific Northwest,” the closer, keeps the pace slow (relatively speaking), as though the duo have been shot by a tranquilizer but are still committed to hammering through the songs. The contrast in styles is welcome, but works considerably better on “I’ll Give You Something to Cry About” than the lumbering closer, which, despite serving as a bit of a buzzkill at the end of the record, is smartly positioned—slotting it into the middle would have been much more of a disruption.

Another standout is the tormented, worst-case-scenario “Shields” (“What could go wrong? I can’t count the number of ways!”). Again, it’s a marriage of steeped-in-tradition heaviness and surprisingly memorable melody; Warren and Willis lock into their grooves and see them through. That’s Big Business—and it’s smart business, too.