ReviewCrystal Fairy are that rare thing: a supergroup who live up to the hype

Crystal Fairy
Crystal Fairy
Ipecac

After enduring countless underwhelming rock supergroups, it seemed likely that hell would freeze over before one came along that was half as good as the hype. Well, the devilishly exciting Crystal Fairy will send Beelzebub scurrying for his mittens. The band is made up of the Melvins’ Dale Crover and Buzz Osborne, At the Drive-In’s Omar Rodríguez-López (here swapping his six strings for four) and Le Butcherettes’ enigmatic frontwoman, Teri Gender Bender. Built around Crover’s thunderous drumming and Osborne’s chugging guitar work, thedebut is unsurprisingly Melvins-grade heavy, especially on the wallowing Moth Tongue, but it’s the vicious, dynamic vocals of Ms Gender Bender that slice through the sludge and take it to a whole new “super” level. On the title track, she sounds like PJ Harvey at her most intense, on Bent Teeth like a young Perry Farrell (with an early Jane’s Addiction groove to match), but it’s the way all four members complement each other that raises Crystal Fairy above the sum of their parts.