Called the “giver of delight,” Euterpe is one of the Greek Muses. Specifically, she is the muse of music, and she has apparently been couchsurfing in Thee Oh Sees frontman John Dwyer’s apartment, although it remains unclear as to whether or not they’re actually “a thing.”
Dwyer has fronted Thee Oh Sees since 1997, and over the past decade or so, they’ve released a dizzying flurry of albums, garnering some notoriety not only with the volume but also with the quality of their output (none of their albums are lame). Their approach toward recording has been consciously against the grain of what is considered common in the industry. Rather than spending months in the studio, they record pretty much everything live, with minimal—if any—overdubs. And that’s it. The reason they are able to do this successfully and consistently is because, unlike some other bands, they don’t suck.
Still true to Thee Oh See’s commitment to scuzzy, high-octane quasi-psychedelia, “Mutilator Defeated At Last” features recent touring members Nick Murray on drums, Timothy Hellman on bass, former member Brigid Dawson on backing vocals, and longtime collaborator Chris Woodhouse on synthesizers and percussion. Hilariously, the band went on “hiatus” at the end of 2013, and Dwyer moved from the bay area to L.A. And yet, here they are again, already handing out little cups of musical LSD-laced Kool-Aid to the world.
“Web” starts low and slinky, picks up some momentum, and then picks up even more until there is no option left but to headbang. Dwyer’s vocals are as eerily elven and effeminate as Connan Mockasin’s, but somehow even creepier—and way more energized.
Opening with bass guitar and wind (what else?), “Withered Hand” is a post-punk assault on the ears. Noise-oriented guitar solos break up single-note walls of fuzz that are hauntingly reminiscent of Black Sabbath, and Dwyer sounds like an electrified Caligula: not “screaming,” but hardly “singing.”
“Poor Queen,” while crazily heavy, is also very melodic, with unison guitar and bass arpeggios dominating the song, and “Turned Out Light” is actually sort of … “normal.” With unmistakable blues influences, it boogies almost like an early Beatles tune.
Similarly, “Lupine Ossuary” (the companion piece to “Lupine Dominance” from “Putrifiers II”), which is basically four minutes of souped-up guitar solo interspersed briefly with vocals, flirts unabashedly with Hendrix. Rather, “Sticky Hulks” resembles The Doors—still psychedelic and bizarre, with bracing guitars run through a delay pedal that only seems to have one setting, but slower and with organ taking the spotlight at times.
As if to prove that technically, yes, they can make music that isn’t heart-attack-inducing, “Holy Smoke” is a wholly instrumental, finger-picked, semi-acoustic, almost bluegrassy (but not) break from the exciting nightmare that is the rest of the album. It almost lulls the listener into a defenseless slumber, only to douse him or her with the bucket of hot nails that is “Rogue Planet,” which starts with a John Bonham-ish cymbal intro but soon lets loose into a frenetic, freaked-out hail of drums and mercilessly thrashed bar chords.
“Palace Doctor” approaches Broadcast, if they had been heavier, or Jim Morrison, if he’d sung an octave higher. Sinister yet smooth, Dwyer whispers like a homesick alien about “planting flowers after dark,” while Murray’s drumming stylistically approaches what one might hesitate, in fear of getting a splinter in the eye, to call “jazz.”
Why is “Mutilator Defeated At Last” so good? Maybe it’s the new lineup, but Thee Oh Sees has had other members and been just as good. And Dwyer has made it clear that this lineup isn’t permanent. The songwriting is great, but that’s not to say that other albums’ songwriting has been lackluster. The production is minimal as usual. It’s hard to put a finger on it, really. More than anything, Dwyer has a formula for success and is not so much cranking out cookie-cutter albums as he is spawning progeny after brilliant progeny. Whatever deal he has worked out with Euterpe is clearly paying off. If you like stuff that kicks ass, quit picking your nose and buy “Mutilator Defeated At Last.”
