22 years ago, this album came out and changed everything.
Joe Preston is Thrones. Before Joe Preston was Thrones, he was a founding member of drone metal pioneers Earth, and spent 1992 as a member of the Melvins, carrying out 4-string duties on the album Lysol and the DVD release A Salad of One Thousand Delights. After leaving the Melvins (depending on who you ask, he was either kicked out for being lazy and not recognizing how great of an idea the three-album-solo-record set based on the KISS records was, or he was excluded when the Melvins signed with Atlantic because Buzz and Dale didn’t want to share the advance), Joe Preston became Thrones, a one-man stoner metal band. Sperm Whale is actually the combination of two EPs, White Rabbit and Sperm Whale, smashed onto one LP and released in September of 2000. When I heard the record some time in 2001, it completely flipped my lid. It sounded like a continuation of the Melvins’ work on Lysol, and demonstrated how important Preston was to the Melvins’ sound during his time as a member. He would go on to form, or be a part of, bands like Sunn O))), Harvey Milk, High on Fire, Men’s Recovery Project, and the Whip. An absolutely superb lineup of credits, a veritable who’s-who of excellent experimental metal bands. I strongly recommend checking out all of those projects, but I absolutely insist that you take the time to listen to Sperm Whale right now. This is the record that changed it all for me, it is almost solely responsible for convincing me to become the Brown Note, but do not hold that against it.
You’re so very welcome.
A Fool Speaks Loudest 