Dan Melchior und das Menace-Obscured by Fuzz

England's Dan Melchior has been forging his own unique brand of raw and dirty punk rock and soulful and swinging blues since the early 1990's. His second album of the year, "Obscured by Fuzz" seems to take thing in a different direction than his acclaimed double album, "Thank You Very Much", that was released earlier in the year. While that record saw Melchior playing around with some of the classic UK art punk influences he's already embraced numerous times in his career, such as the Fall and Swell Maps, as well as the psychedelic drug-blues of artists like Syd Barret and Roy Harper, "Obscured by Fuzz" is a far more traditional, though no less exciting, record. The songs are all romp and fury, throwing back to the Killed by Death compilations with crunchy power chords topped by lots of nice fuzz and feedback. The lyrics, as always, are on point. The songs detail some of the more depraved aspects of pop culture; tales of Hollywood violence, Janet Jackson's exposed breast on the super bowl, a Werewolf named simply 'Glen, greedy vegan farmers, and the jaded hipsters that pervade the "scene". The album is downright anthemic and angry in tone. The album largely ditched the most obscure psychedelic stylings of Melchior's previous albums in favor of a straight ahead punk fury. Stand out track is "Smut", a Stooges-influenced garage dirge anthem with a lyrical narrative I'm sure your mind would let you imagine. Dan Melchior is a seasoned veteran who is making the most pure rock n roll in music right now. Well Kurt Vile comes close, but he gets a little too far out to apply, perhaps?