When it comes to writing music reviews, nothing’s more Lamesville than a critic swiping text from a label’s press release. But in the case of Mudhoney’s new full-length, one would be hard-pressed to top Sub Pop’s description of the quartet as the “ur-underground group.” Thirty-five years into their career, the band’s eleventh studio LP is another primordial and entertaining mélange of garage, punk, psych, and sardonic wit.

Here, the band is in top form on “Cascades of Crap,” a theme song without a Western movie, and on the thundering fuzz of “Move Under,” with lead guitarist Steve Turner and frontman Mark Arm dishing Superfuzz and Big Muff tones ripped from the grooves of their classic-period work. “Almost Everything” finds the band and producer Johnny Sangster neatly layering sinister riffs over Dan Peters’ familiar “tippy tap” drumming, bongos, and Guy Maddison’s insistent bass line.

With titles like “Flush The Fascists” (rhymes “Jean Genet” with “Japanese bidet”) and “Here Comes The Flood” (the first rock song to tackle human Ivermectin consumption, one might reasonably conclude), it’s not difficult to guess that Arm is absurdly wrestling with the absurdity of the modern world. Take comfort, then, in the closing palate cleanser, an ode to diminutive canines called “Little Dogs.”

This article originally appeared in VG’s July 2023 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.