Melvins & Napalm Death: The Imperial March of Two Legends

 

Two noisy legends cross paths in the same studio after decades of admiring each other from afar. Both bands started in 1987. They have known and admired each other for decades. They have toured together. But actually recording together? Can the heavy, twisted sludge coexist with the brutal and merciless grindcore? It sounds almost impossible.

Although the eccentric hairstyles of Buzz Osborne and Shane Embury must look great next to each other, as happened in Venomous Concept. And surely the love for bands like Black Sabbath and Black Flag must be something shared by both groups. Savage Imperial Death March is the story of Melvins and Napalm Death getting into the studio together. Welcome, noise lovers.

On the Melvins' side are Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover. On the other come Barney Greenway, Shane Embury, and John Cooke. The best part is that they sound like something new without leaving out elements from their own bands. All the pieces fit perfectly. There’s the fury of Napalm Death and the madness of the Melvins.

The magic emerged almost spontaneously when all these musicians got together in the studio. Buzz Osborne’s riff machine started moving forward, and Greenway immediately joined in with his beastly growls.

Tossing Coins Into the Foundation of Fuck has a lot of Napalm Death in it, although with the rhythmic dynamic of the Melvins thanks to Dale Crover. On Some Kind of Antichrist, it’s clear that the Melvins take control with a crushing rhythm and Osborne dominating the vocals.

Nine Days of Rain showcases the hybridization of both bands. The slow, grind side of Napalm Death and the sludge side of the Melvins. I’d dare say that here the bands come close to something resembling the sound of Swans.

Rip the God sounds like something that could have originated from Black Flag’s My War. That album where Henry Rollins and Greg Ginn became obsessed with Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, and Flipper, and in which they earned the hatred of the punks who had followed them at the beginning, though the kids in Seattle loved them.

Both bands accelerate on Stealing Horses and Barney Greenway lets loose a bit more. Top tier riffs, ferociously roaring bass, and Crover’s always peculiar rhythmic sense. Death Hour could well be something straight out of the classic Houdini with detours toward Scum.

The Melvins sound much more accustomed to this type of collaboration. Osborne and Crover together are capable of dominating any situation. Meanwhile, Greenway and Embury seem to hold back a little and save the pure noise for other collaborations like Venomous Concept. On Savage Imperial Death March, what dominates is the madness of the Melvins and their strange way of creating music. The album wouldn’t work as a Napalm Death record, but it’s clear that it is a Melvins album with added surprises.