On Saturday night, Brooklyn Bowl Nashville turned into a temple of distortion as The Melvins and Napalm Death joined forces for a night of beautifully abrasive music. It was loud, it was weird, and it felt like the walls of the venue were just barely holding it together.
The Melvins started off with a spectacle as two drummers filled in the sound in perfect unison, something you never see. The sound from the drummers felt like tectonic plates shifting under your feet as each groove-inducing fill was played. Buzz Osborne, aka King Buzzo, hit the stage looking like a time-traveling psychedelic warlock, leading the quartet through a set that can only be described as crushing yet surreal. Highlights like “Honey Bucket” and “Working the Ditch” reminded everyone just how influential and strange in the best possible way, The Melvins still are. It wasn’t a mosh pit kind of set, even though there was a sleuth of crowd surfers, but it was a slow burn, a hypnotic descent into the heavy unknown.
Then, Napalm Death took the stage and immediately set it on fire. If The Melvins melted your brain, Napalm Death stomped on what was left. Barney Greenway came out roaring and pacing the stage like a madman, launching the band into a whiplash set that barely gave anyone time to breathe. It was pure mayhem featuring blast beats, throaty screams, and a sense of urgency that never let up. Classic ragers like “Scum” and “You Suffer” hit hard, but newer material held its own, proving the band is still very much a vital force. Between songs, Barney dropped a few pointed political remarks, staying true to Napalm’s roots in punk ideology.
What made the night so powerful was the contrast. The Melvins warped your perception of time and space, and immediately after, Napalm Death made you want to punch a hole through it. It was doom and grindcore, sludge and speed, slow decay and sudden eruption, and yet, somehow, it all made perfect sense together.
The Melvins and Napalm Death created a powerful dynamic with no fluff or filters, just two legendary bands showing exactly why they’re still essential. It was a night of glorious extremes. Your ears may never recover, but your soul probably needed it.
