Mondo Generator – “Fuck It” [Album Review]

The legacy left by stoner rock gods Kyuss is sublime and far-reaching. They took an underground sound that evolved out in the Palm Desert, refined it, and let it loose like a hungry cougar. With all the members of the band being crucial to its evolution and sound, it was only a matter of time before they accepted that they had said everything they needed to say in 1996 and each started up their own numerous and satisfying projects. Nick Oliveri unleashed the twisted beast that is Mondo Generator (a term that Brant Bjork had spray-painted onto the side of Oliveri’s amp back in Kyuss), which became certainly the most aggressive and interesting of all the newer Kyuss-spawned acts.

Oliveri fused together all the tasty elements of alternative, punk, filthy hard rock, and (of course) that sweaty desert rock that, once it enters your system, can never disappear. Fuck It is the band’s first album in eight years, but with the barrage of killer tunes included, that feels just like yesterday.

The one major thread that runs throughout the record is a huge Black Flag influence, through both Oliveri’s vocals and the urgent attack that knocks you flat over the 43 minutes of power. It’s a perfect setting for Mondo Generator, as the ‘Flag always had such a varied bevy of influences that seethed under their violent punk attack, and also an intellectual vibe about it all (especially with Henry Rollins’ hand on the lyrical pen). Opener “Nowhere Man” is a prime example of this influence, a vitriolic assault that percolates with a monster groove and a mean bastard of a chorus.

The rest of the album dynamically ebbs and flows through Sabbathy sludge, on-point thrash aggro, bubblegum psychedelic rock, and, once again, that stretches-like-the-horizon desert rock template that opens everything up with dramatic flair. The one song that immediately draws attention is “Kyuss Dies!,” a title that will instantly get the hackles up – it’s not an attack on the group and its heritage, but rather a melancholy musing by Oliveri on why the definitive band should finally be left to rest in peace. And it is this song in particular that truly shows the depth of the man as an artist and why he was such an important component of both Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age – even the hardest men (perhaps more so) have an emotional streak and wisdom to impart.

Fuck It (an album title that perfectly sums up its contents) is classic Mondo Generator with all the proverbial bells and whistles, and then some. It rocks super-hard, it cradles you in an emotional embrace, it bangs your head, it roars with true punk gusto, and it leads you effortlessly onto the dancefloor and sweeps you into a romantic haze. Welcome back, you reprobates – you’ve been sorely missed, and we need you around.

Fuck It Track Listing:

01. Nowhere Man
02. Up Against The Void
03. Kyuss Dies!
04. Turboner
05. Fuck It
06. When Death Comes
07. Listening To The Daze
08. Silver Tequila: 666 Miles Away
09. S_V_E_T_L_A_N_A_S
10. There’s Nothing Wrong
11. Death Van Trip
12. It’s You I Don’t Believe
13. Option Four
14. Disease With No Control

Run Time: 43 minutes
Release Date: February 21, 2020
Record Label: Heavy Psych Sounds