Before there was Nirvana, before there was Pearl Jam, there was Mudhoney. Along with the likes of Soundgarden and Tad, this Seattle band was the original inspiration for the term "grunge." And their fifth full- length record, Tomorrow Hit Today, released Tuesday (Sept. 22) on Reprise after a three- year recording hiatus, certainly follows suit.

In the interim period since touring for their last album, 1995's My Brother the Cow, the quartet stayed busy, albeit on separate projects. Singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm recorded and toured with Bloodloss; guitarist Steve Turner ran his label, Super Electro Records; drummer Dan Peters joined ex-Dinosaur Jr. bassist Mike Johnson for a tour; and bassist and legendary bon vivant Matt Lukin... Well, just what did Matt do?

"That's a well- guarded secret," says Arm from his West Seattle home. "You'd have to put in a little spy cam in his home." If legend proved to be reality, that might reap a best- selling book. "I don't know about best- selling," Arm says with a sly laugh, "but it might be kind of a weird read."

Mudhoney celebrated their 10th anniversary last January, and though they're perhaps a little less crazy after all these years, one listen to the new album proves that their original darkly psychedelic, blue- collar heavy metalized garage- punk still prevails. Does Tomorrow Hit Today still qualify as a grunge record, then?

"Can you tell me what that means?" Arm asks. "The first time we were aware of the term was in the liner notes to a Johnny Burnett and the Rock and Roll Trio album, talking about the 'grungy' guitar sound. To me that word is another way of saying dirty, nasty- sounding."

But those two adjectives certainly describe the overall sound of Mudhoney's new album. "Well, we do what we do for a reason," Arm continues. "The whole point of the guitars sounding the way they do is for the guitars to sound the way they do!"

Throughout the album, draped over those fabulously distorted guitars, is the familiar Arm wail, singing typically Mudhoney- style malignant melodramas. "I hope it's also humorous," says Arm. "Not like wacky humorous, but not completely serious." Like the lyric in "Beneath the Valley of the Underdog" that goes, "Down on my knees, scrubbing at floors, scratching at festering sores"? "Oh yes, that was a good time," Arm deadpans.

Tomorrow Hit Today, produced by the legendary Jim Dickinson (Big Star, Replacements), was recorded at Stone Gossard's studio in Seattle. Among its 12 tracks -- plus one hidden song, "Talkin' Randy Tate Specter Blues" -- is a revamped version of "Poisoned Water," which was written at the time of recording My Brother the Cow. In an early form, Mudhoney performed the song in the Chris Farley movie Black Sheep.

"Basically, it was whipped into shape after My Brother the Cow was recorded," says Arm. "Then it got reworked again and a solo was added. This is the version we've been playing live for two and a half years."

"Night of the Hunted" is another familiar song -- that is, if you caught its release as a single last spring on Super Electro (which also released Tomorrow Hit Today on vinyl).

So would the album's title be inspired by any au courant pre- millennium tension? "More pre-menstrual, I think," says Arm. (The title actually references "When Tomorrow Hits," a song on Mudhoney's debut album.) "I don't really view it as a millennial thing, but eventually things are going to catch up with you."