Thunderball is the twenty-eighth studio album by American rock band Melvins. It was released on April 18, 2025, by Ipecac Recordings in CD, vinyl, and digital formats.
Background.
The album, succeeding the band's 2024 album, "Tarantula Heart", was announced in February 2025 with "Savage Imperial Death March", a collaboration with Napalm Death. It is the band's third album under the name "Melvins 1983", featuring two of the band's initial members, Buzz Osborne and Mike Dillard, alongside Atlanta electronic musicians Bristolian Ni Maîtres and Void Manes. The album's lead single, "Victory of the Pyramids", was released on February 18, 2025. Dillard described the song as a "lovely blend of beautiful noise and gut-busting grooves".
Reception.
Mark Deming of AllMusic wrote in his review of "Thunderball", "After over four decades, the Melvins still sound utterly uncompromised and full of swampy vigor, and "Thunderball" confirms they haven't finished challenging themselves or their audience, not by a long shot." "Ultimate Classic Rock" remarked, "Despite Manes and Maires' additions, "Thunderball" is undoubtedly a Melvins record, as persistent, uncompromising and victorious as anything they've done over the past 40 years."
Olly Thomas of "Kerrang!" gave the album a rating of four out of five and stated, "Ironically, though, aside from the ominous interlude that is Vomit Of Clarity, "Thunderball" includes some of the most irresistible, huge-sounding tunes Melvins have delivered in a while." "Sputnikmusic"s Miloslaw Rugallini wrote that ""Thunderball" would greatly benefit from another 10 or 20 minutes worth of mid-to-low tempo grooves to grant their now-besotted audience a chance to sway like sluggish Evangelicals in a primal stupor".
Sean Millard of "Louder Than War" assigned the album a rating of 4.5 out of five, noting "I think that "Thunderball" establishes a new bar for Melvins to beat. Far from being in the twilight of their career, this one feels like it might just be their Best shot at a new dawn." "Blabbermouth", comparing the album to "Tarantula Heart", described it as "cut from the same cloth, but with an even greater dedication to gnarly, doomed-out riffing, and a woozy, psychedelic streak a mile wide," and rated it eight out of ten.
Personnel.
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.