Album Of The Week: Crystal Fairy

Supergroups pop up at least once a year, and they can be an imploding disaster waiting to happen or a brilliant melding of talents that’s simply amazing. The latter can be said for Crystal Fairy, a brand new band consisting of Dale Crover and Buzz Osbourne from Seattle sludge legends The Melvins, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez from prog punks At The Drive-In and psychedelic prog masters The Mars Volta and Teri Gender Bender from Mexican punk revolutionaries Le Butcherettes. This band completely shreds with their self-titled release that came out on February 24. It’s a record that hits hard and leaves a lasting impression.

The whole idea for Crystal Fairy came from a tour The Melvins and Le Butcherettes did together with each night ending with Gender Bender taking the stage with The Melvins to perform a rendition of Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl.” Rodriguez-Lopez soon connected with The Melvins and the supergroup eventually came to be. The band’s sound fuses punk angst with classic rock charisma and it makes for a stupendous array of tracks that are incredibly intense. This release snuck up on people when it was announced and with good reason. The album from start to finish has power that’s rarely equaled these days and it’s shocking to say the least.

It’s awesome that despite Crover, Osbourne, Rodriguez-Lopez and Gender Bender all being established musicians, they still aren’t afraid to put out music that’s raw and unpolished. Crystal Fairy brings that timeless aesthetic of having no frills and just sounding good. The riffs are what really make the album special. Also, when’s the last time you got to hear what a talented artist like Rodriguez-Lopez sounds like playing a bass? To examine all of that and more, dive into my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week:

“Necklace Of Divorce” has an old school thrash metal tone while Gender Bender shows off her commanding vocals. Osbourne’s guitar sounds pristine while the rhythm section of Crover and Rodriguez-Lopez obliterate rhythms. Sludgy as a tar pit is “Secret Agent Rat” and it has Gender Bender singing in Spanish for a different linguistic take. Going toward the prog route is “Bent Teeth” and the entire band takes things to another level sonically. The flurry of riffs and beats exhibited are a ferocious arsenal that never lets up. Crystal Fairy ended a mini West Coast tour at Slim’s in San Francisco on February 25. Hopefully they roll through New England sometime before the end of the year so we can get a taste of how this insanely talented quartet is on stage. I can imagine that it would be something special. For now, grab a copy of Crystal Fairy’s self-titled release. It’s something refreshingly loud that’ll electrify you.

Pre-order Crystal Fairy via Bandcamp: crystalfairy.bandcamp.com; Like Crystal Fairy on Facebook: facebook.com/crystalfairyband