It’s been over thirty years since Primus released their seminal album Pork Soda, which made it all the way up to number seven on the US charts and went platinum.

In that time, there have been six new albums, six spinoff bands, and almost a dozen new members. It’s been a turbulent ride for Primus from their early days helping to pioneer funk metal to their heyday, topping the charts with knockouts like “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver,” to their somehow even weirder experimental period, which gave us such gems as Primus and the Chocolate Factory, an album featuring covers of the entire Willy Wonka soundtrack. Through it all, Primus has persevered, constantly growing and changing to keep up with the ever-mutating music scene around them. Which brings us to the band’s most recent release, A Handful of Nuggs.

A Handful of Nuggs - Primus — A Handful of Nuggs – Primus

Surprise-released May 15, A Handful of Nuggs is a four-track EP that dropped with little warning. Speculation had long been circulating that a new album was in the works, but earlier this month, it was finally confirmed by frontman Les Claypool that a new LP was on the way next year and that, before that, there would be a brand new EP coming, which would feature two new singles. Now that EP is here, it’s received mixed reviews. The reasons for this require a complete deconstruction of the record to understand, so let’s look at this thing piece by piece.

The first track on A Handful of Nuggs is one of the two new singles titled “The Ol’ Grizz.” It’s a fast-paced funk track riddled with thumping bass and explosive drums reminiscent of what the band was doing in the ‘90s. The first few times you listen to this song, it’s extremely satisfying, seemingly a sure sign that the good old Primus is back. Then, after a while, you notice that the intro sounds familiar, and, as a matter of fact, so does that bass line, and the melody too. Suddenly, you realize this “new single” is a rearrangement of “Booneville Stomp” from “Of Fungi and Foe,” Claypool’s second solo album. Actually, calling it a rearrangement is a little generous; it’s just sped up. Sure, the lyrics are different, but the rest of the song is nearly a carbon copy.

Next up, we have a cover of Dio’s “Holy Diver” featuring Puddles Pity Party, the clown alias of Georgian singer Michael Geier. From a musical standpoint, there isn’t anything special about this tune. It’s a one-for-one cover of “Holy Diver,” no Primus flair added. It’s a perfectly fine cover; however, I don’t think it lands the same way on a record as it would in person. Seeing Mr. Party come out in full clown attire and tear apart a Dio classic alongside Primus live in person would be mind-melting. It’s a solid performance and a silly execution; highly entertaining. On a record, however, you lose the visual component. What we are left with is a cover that, though competent, doesn’t sound like Primus, excruciatingly so due to the guest vocalist, making it an awkward point in the tracklist.

After that, there’s “Little Lord Fentanyl,” the band’s first single with current drummer John Hoffman, which was originally released in May of 2025. This is the unaltered single version just as it was originally released. We were only promised two new singles, so I suppose it makes sense that they would pad out the run time with their most recent previous single; that’s just standard practice. Although now having seen the full tracklist, I wonder if this is supposed to be one of the new singles we were promised. Sure, this one was new, a year ago, but calling it a new single now is a bit deceptive if you ask me.

Finally, we come to a live version of “Duchess (And The Proverbial Mind Spread),” first released on Primus’ fifth LP, The Brown Album. This was recorded at a show in Philadelphia last May. It was added to the EP to show off the band’s ability to improvise, which it does well, showcasing a nice interplay between the funky basslines, palm-muted guitar, driving beat, and screaming solos. It’s a fantastic performance that makes me want for a full-length live album for the show it came from.

So that’s our new EP, featuring two new singles. Let’s tally the score: We have what is more or less a cover of one of the frontman’s solo tunes, an actual cover which adds little to the original track, a single that was new a year ago, and a pretty tasty live recording of a classic Primus tune. One can probably see why some people think this release is uninspired. I mean, did we really get anything new? It’s debatable. And that’s a shame, because the guys all played incredibly on the record.

Primus have not lost an ounce of musical talent over their career; to this day, they can rock just as hard as they ever have. Unfortunately, it seems like they may be in a bit of a slump when it comes to songwriting. Maybe the full album will come out next year, featuring twelve brand new tracks that prove me completely wrong. But I do have my fears that the LP may turn out to be a repeat of this EP.

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