Band Name: Ween

Album: The Mollusk

Background: Ween was formed in New Hope, Pennsylvania by two childhood friends Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, who then made the stage names Dean and Gene Ween. Starting as a duo in 1984, they eventually formed into a 5 piece band, and continued to create and release music until momentarily disbanding in 2012 (they have since reunited in 2015, but have only gone on tour.) Their genre is said to be Alternative Rock, but it’s really all over the board, as they’ve taken musical influences from funk, soul, country, prog, R&B, gospel, punk, and heavy metal.

Weirdness: Pretty darn weird. If you’re not used to similar sounds, you may be put off initially. I know I was. However, you may soon grow to love it, as I did.

Accessibility: I’d consider Ween a pretty good stepping stone into weird music. The songs may be weird, but they are grounded in pretty good instrumentals.

Flow: The songs in the album have a pretty weird flow. Not necessarily bad, just weird. One song will play, and then the next one will sound quite different. For example, Buckingham Green is a rocking song with a wicked guitar, and it comes immediately after the song titled “Waving My **** in the Wind,” which sounds exactly like you think it does.

Feeling: I’ve used this word a lot, and I will continue to use it. It’s weird. You’ll get a weird feeling from listening to this. Not much else to say.

Length: It’s got a run time of 43:56, making it about average length for an album (at least for me.)

Final Verdict: The Mollusk is an experience, I’ll say that much. It really depends on who you are to decide on whether or not that experience is a good one or not.

Rating: Good. Weird. Definitely would recommend to anyone, really.

Favorite Songs: The Mollusk, Mutilated Lips, The Blarney Stone, It’s Gonna Be (Alright), The Golden Eel, Buckingham Green, Ocean Man