Didn’t miss their calling

With a whopping 117 official releases under his belt since 1986’s “Gluey Porch Treatments” first inspired Kurt Cobain to pick up a guitar, it’s difficult to imagine there’s much more for Melvins mastermind Buzz Osborne to say.

“The Bulls & the Bees,” a free digital EP distributed by Scion A/V, defies that notion. Its five lean cuts of vintage Melvins mine the dark recesses of the band’s experimental and rock ’n’ roll sides alike to create their most consistent release since the 1990s.

The simultaneous embrace of straightforward heaviness and Earth-like dirge also makes for a bipolar experience in which four-on-the-floor rockers such as lead single “The War on Wisdom” and bizarre abstractions like “A Really Long Wait” are coerced into coexistence.

The uneven experience isn’t necessarily a demerit, though. Melvins music has always been characterized by something being just a little bit off, and in the distilled format of the extended play, it’s as gloriously disconcerting as ever.