Akuma no Uta

One of the most bracing intersections of noise, punk, and metal in one of the more unassuming packages — the original cover’s hastily doodled critter or the reissue’s winking Nick Drake homage, take your pick. The Melvins-indebted Tokyo merchants of unsafe-at-any-speed sludge crank up their dirtbag-rock appeal here, succeeding in part because it’s a culmination of all their best early-career modes from wafting feedback drones to yowling drum-smashing thrash, and in part because it proves concision and traditional songcraft doesn’t diminish their roar at all.