Puddle of Mudd - Welcome to Galvania

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After the commercial success of Grunge Rock and Alternative Rock during the first of the half of the 90’s in the USA, both musical genres went back into the underground from where it came. Obviously that there are many names from those days playing and releasing albums until today, but the North American quartet PUDDLE OF MUDD seems like they couldn’t care less for the years that passed, and are back with a new album after 10 years: “Welcome to Galvania”. Some call their work as Post-Grunge or Post-Alternative Rock, so they are into a trend that is melodic and easy to be understood, where melodic tender parts contrasts with distorted and dirty parts. Their melodies are truly accessible, in a way that could be a success in the middle of the 90’s, and without that “down” feeling that many used to have back then. They could be compared to NIRVANA and MOTHER LOVE BONE, but with some teenage melodies like SOUL ASYLUM (and it’s not an offense). It’s not a popular Rock genre today, but their work is really good.

The album was produced by Cameron Webb, the same one who worked for MOTÖRHEAD, DISTURBED and SISTER SIN, who built something that can sound organic and dirty, but that can be understood and accessible. It’s a “de fault” sound quality for such musical genre, but with its very good particularities. “Uh Oh” is an accessible song that could play on radios, but some of its melodies are very good, and what a lovely chorus), “Go to Hell” shows a balance between some clean parts with distorted moments (and a good work from guitars), the charming ballad “My Kind of Crazy”, the melodic dynamics of the tempos heard on “Time of Our Lives”, the noisy and dirty melodies of “Sunshine”, and the tender parts of “Slide Away” are their best shots. But all the album’s songs deserve to be heard carefully.

Maybe the time for Grunge Rock and Alternative Rock is gone, but the work of PUDDLE OF MUDD heard on “Welcome to Galvania” shows an honest band that still has some gifts for the fans.

Originality: 7
Songwriting: 8
Memorability: 9
Production: 8