Way back in the '80s, the Melvins and Napalm Death pioneered radically different forms of extreme underground metal on different sides of the Atlantic. In the Pacific Northwest, the Melvins made a guttural trudge that set the stage for sludge, doom, and, yes, grunge. In Birmingham, Napalm Death's high-speed blurts essentially invented grindcore. Over the decades, the Melvins and Napalm Death have soldiered on, continuing to explore and making more vital records than anyone could've ever predicted. Now, their paths have converged.
Those paths have converged before. In 2016, Melvins and Napalm Death set out on a joint tour that they called Savage Imperial Death March. They toured again last year, and they released a collaborative album, also called Savage Imperial Death March, that was only available on vinyl at the shows. A year later, they're putting that record out for the rest of us.
Savage Imperial Death March is not a split. The two bands fully got together at the Melvins' LA studio, with that band's frontman Buzz Osborne and drummer Dale Crover joining Napalm Death vocalist Barney Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, and guitarist John Cooke.
Here's what Buzz Osborne says about the collaboration in a press release:
Napalm Death are one of my favorite bands ever. It was an absolute pleasure and a dream come true to do this collaboration with them. We wrote songs together. I would write a riff and we would learn it and record it right there. They wrote stuff, and we would learn it immediately as well. It was truly a 50/50 partnership.
And here's Barney Greenway:
Funny how life turns out sometimes... collecting hard-to-find Melvins 7-inches on Bleecker Street in 1989 and then touring twice and doing an album with them within the following 35 years. Had a great time with it all, and nice to work with fellow travelers in the Melvins who also couldn't care about pandering to "demographics." I felt myself almost babbling lyrically during the recording, and that alone made for very fun recording times.
The excellently titled lead single "Tossing Coins Into The Fountain Of Fuck" really does sound like a fusion of the Melvins and Napalm Death. It's a fast, ugly chug with demonic vocals and a whole lot of feverish guitar action. Listen below.
Savage Imperial Death March is out 4/10 on Ipecac.
