Melvins, O2 Academy 2, Birmingham - review

This version of the band features founder members Buzz Osborne on guitar and drummer Dale Crover, joined by the dual-bass attack of Steven McDonald from Red Kross and Butthole Surfer Jeff Pinkus.

For the uninitiated ­– and judging by the amount of grey hairs in the crowd I’d bet there aren’t many inside the utterly sweltering venue that fall into that category – Melvins are an iconic band that love a gimmick.

In the past they’ve had two drummers (the 2008 shows with Big Business were a bit special) and two guitarists, so it appears to be a natural progression to pair up the four-stringers.

In truth, new album Pinkus Abortion Technician is a patchy affair, as many of Melvins noughties efforts have been.

But with a back catalogue that stretches back to the early 80s and so many albums to mine from that even Buzz himself has probably lost count, the band can’t fail to produce moments of sheer delight in their set.

And we get three of them immediately with Sesame Street Meat, At a Crawl and Kicking Machine, which are all heavier than thou and play to Melvins strengths.

The band are at their best when they get down to the business of pummelling the audience, but tonight we get a shade too much noodling among the low end rumble.

Stop Moving to Florida from the new album is a case in point, a rather clever combo of tracks from James Gang and the Buttholes that falls flat in the live setting.

It’s mid-set when Honey Bucket from the 1993 classic Houdini rips into The Bit that they really hit their stride, with Crover seemingly puppet master to his bassists from behind the drum riser.

Evil New War God is excruciatingly heavy - in the best possible way - before a wonderfully over the top Eye Flys bumps the volume up to speaker-bostin’ level.

It breaks down into a complete cacophony, McDonald bringing it home with a full array of yelps, screeches and high-kicks.

Before Melvins finish up, we get a sublime and almost surreal moment when birthday boy Crover is presented with a cake on stage and Buzz leads the crowd in a joyous rendition of Happy Birthday.

The 51-year-old then sends us on our way with So Long, Farewell.

It’s not quite a vintage performance, and it’s a shame they didn’t treat us to one of their Sabbath covers considering the venue, but Melvins still deliver a memorable lesson in the art of slow and heavy.