Great bands adapt to change, and never let it be said that Mudhoney is not a great band. When bassist Matt Lukin left following the touring cycle behind 1998's Tomorrow Hit Today, they recruited Guy Maddison, an Australian bassist previously with Lubricated Goat, who had relocated to America's Pacific Northwest and was playing in vocalist Mark Arm's side project Bloodloss. Maddison fit the band like a glove, and in 2022, when he announced he was returning to Australia, Mudhoney wanted to cut one more album with him before ...
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Great bands adapt to change, and never let it be said that Mudhoney is not a great band. When bassist Matt Lukin left following the touring cycle behind 1998's Tomorrow Hit Today, they recruited Guy Maddison, an Australian bassist previously with Lubricated Goat, who had relocated to America's Pacific Northwest and was playing in vocalist Mark Arm's side project Bloodloss. Maddison fit the band like a glove, and in 2022, when he announced he was returning to Australia, Mudhoney wanted to cut one more album with him before he left town. Even though they didn't have a full set of songs completed, they booked nine days in a studio with producer Johnny Sangster, working up riffs they had lying around and whatever uncompleted ideas they'd been fooling with before COVID-19 made rehearsals problematic. 2023's Plastic Eternity is, in many respects, the sound of Mudhoney winging it, and if the result isn't a great album, it's certainly a good one, and shows them rising to the occasion in solid, engaging form. On Plastic Eternity, Mudhoney devote less time to the hard fast tunes (though they pick things up with "Almost Everything" and "Here Comes the Flood") and more to the midtempo grungy slog they love while using additional instruments to fill out the atmosphere, with bongos, keyboards, and occasional lo-fi electronic buzzing augmenting the dirty guitars on several cuts. (Significantly, Sangster gets a songwriting credit along with the band on three tunes.) That said, the inspired howl of Steve Turner's arsenal of guitars and aging stomp boxes is still this band's clarion call, and Mark Arm's Iggy-like vocal sneer remains a snarky joy to behold, while Danny Peters is one of rock's most underappreciated great drummers, with great time and superb feel, and Maddison's bass work shows why they were willing to hurry to have him on these sessions -- he's never showy and always adds just the right flavor to the bottom end. While they open the album with the post-psychedelic status report "Souvenir of My Trip," most of Plastic Eternity sees Arm once again venting his spleen regarding a variety of political, social, and environmental issues as he did on 2018's Digital Garbage, still a bit surprising from the band that gave us "Touch Me, I'm Sick." If you're going to listen to anyone rant about the state of the world, it may as well be Mark Arm, who is wittier than most and whose righteous anger connects, especially on the anti-overwork anthem "Human Stock Capital" and his screed against COVID-19 deniers and Ivermectin addicts, "Here Comes the Flood." The closer, "Little Dogs," is a sincere and unexpectedly charming tribute to Man's Best Friend, a rare moment where the band embraces joy in pure form. Plastic Eternity shows Mudhoney are capable of surprising us (and themselves) 35 years in, and judging from the results, it won't be the last time they'll pull that off. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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