Imagine. An ominous aura is looming around the air, perhaps of the wandering spirit of death metal. You’re in a subliminally dark space, with dim lighting merely illuminating two specific regions – the untouchable performers on the stage and the headbanging fans circling the space. The guitarists and bassists disseminate inhumanly intricate riffs to the audience, with enthralling yet heavily distorted sound riffs. The drummers pour in their sweat to generate adrenaline-inducing beats, pulsating the blood across the veins of the fans. At the end of each performance, it reminds the audience of the merit of being alive and of witnessing something as legendary as this metal music ritual.

Washington-based alternative metal band Melvins and Birmingham (England) hardcore punk & death metal band Napalm Death took the stage like a haywire roller coaster at The Belasco on April 10^th, 2025. In celebration of their newly released collaboration album, Savage Imperial Death March Part II (as they previously collaborated in 2016 for the album of the same name), Los Angeles was one of the first stops for Melvins and Napalm Death for their 2025 co-headlining tour in the North American region. The night at the Belasco illustrated both groups’ 40-year-long discography, enchanting old and new generations of heavy metal fans.

As any spectacular heavy metal concert does, the extremely high-spirited fans were enthusiastically moshing throughout the galvanizing performances of Melvins and Napalm Death. Along with incredibly dexterous and rapid-paced performances by Melvins and Napalm Death, their unparalleled energy, extremity, and rapidity were yet another reminder about the core of heavy metal music – overcoming societal angst with overwhelmingly powerful, dense music.

The night at The Belasco was suitably opened by dark, industrial, and synth metal artist Dark Sky Burial (the lead bassist of Napalm Death, Shane Embury) and North Carolina-based sludge metal band Weedeater. Dark Sky Burial’s solo performance, utilizing the MIDI controller, digital drum set, and an electronic wind instrument (a combination of traditional wind instruments with synthesized tones), brought in a slowly paced yet perfect dark ambient mood to the audience. Then, following Dark Sky Burial’s performance, the already hyper-energized band members of Weedeater took the stage to shift the mood. Led by the eccentrically active bassist Dave ‘Dixie’ Collins, Weedeater began putting the fans in motion with their slow yet distortion-drenched sound. Dave Collins’ growling vocals and aggressive bass riffs further vitalized the audience and reignited their metal spirit.

To continue the high spirit delivered by Dark Sky Burial and Weedeater, the members of Melvins self-assuredly came up to the stage – including the now 61-year-old lead vocalist & guitarist Buzz Osborne, quirky bassist Steven Shane McDonald, along with two extremely dexterous drummers, Dale Clover and Coady Willis. All the band members of Melvins were wearing sorcerer-like outfits and makeup, further contributing to their style of chaotic yet magical sound, along with Buzz Osborne’s commandingly raspy vocals and his facile yet audibly distorted guitar riffs, two extremely skillful drummers synchronously playing their beats, as well as the bassist’s skillful assistance.

Without any verbal introduction (also without any explanation, putting up an image of Agnes Moorehead’s character from the 1960s ABC sitcom series Bewitched throughout their performance), Melvins began to perform the first song of the night, “Working the Ditch”. Their first song, with a whopping 6 minutes and 30 seconds long song about the existential angst of living in the current state of society, slowly began enticing the audience. Some highlights included their performance of the emotionally contained song “A History of Bad Men”, the extremely rapid-paced song “Honey Bucket”, and an instrumental stand-off between the drummers during their drum solo performance.

After Melvins delivered their chaotically contained performance, the members of Napalm Death then unhurriedly walked onto the stage to provide something contrary, including the now 55-year-old lead singer and extreme metal vocalist Barney Greenway, reserved yet powerful guitarist Mitch Harris, quiet yet deadly drummer Danny Herrera, and the bassist Shane Embury. It was also interesting since the stage mannerisms and outfits of the band members of Napalm Death were all quite simple and modest (also, Barney Greenway was wearing a fun cow t-shirt with the tagline “Dinosaur Jr.” written on it). Yet as Napalm Death began performing the first song of the night, “Multinational Corporations”, the band members erupted with emotional extremity and uncontrollable rapidity.

The stark contrast between their stage mannerism and performance style continued throughout the night, where Barney Greenway would explain the intent and the anti-establishment commentary civilly embedded in their respective songs, followed by his impressive yet guttural growls along with his band members’ chaotically hardcore instrumental plays. Some of the highlights of the night included their performance of the absurdly short yet explosive song “You Suffer” (a song that is 1.3 seconds long, which also holds the Guinness World record for the shortest song to be ever recorded), emotionally and rhythmically fluctuating song “Contagion”, slow-paced yet heart screeching song “Scum”, as well as rhythmically uncontrollable song “Narcoleptic”.

The night at The Belasco was filled with an interesting stylistic clash between the experimental sludge chaos of Melvins and the ferocious grindcore of Napalm Death, which offered the audience perhaps a rejuvenation of the long-lost spirit of metal culture’s variety. It is astonishing how, despite both bands having begun their musical careers in the 1980s, Melvins and Napalm Death nevertheless delivered a vigorously enthralling performance to the determined fans of both current and previous generations of metal music. The sound of metal, as showcased at The Belasco, seems to be continuously evolving, growing louder, and indomitable.

Melvins Setlist:

1. Working the Ditch
2. The Bloated Pope (Melvins & Lustmord cover song)
3. Never Say You’re Sorry
4. Evil New War God
5. It’s Shoved
6. Billy Fish
7. A History of Bad Men
8. Blood Witch
9. Honey Bucket
10. Revolve
11. Your Blessened

Napalm Death Setlist:

1. Multinational Corporations
2. Silence Is Deafening
3. Lowpoint
4. Smash a Single Digit
5. Contagion
6. Resentment Always Simmers
7. Narcoleptic
8. Amoral
9. Retreat to Nowhere
10. Social Sterility
11. Dead
12. Suffer the Children
13. On the Brink of Extinction
14. Pride Assassin
15. Backlash Just Because
16. F–k the Factoid
17. Cold Forgiveness
18. Scum
19. Control
20. You Suffer
21. Nazi Punks F–k Off (Dead Kennedys cover song)
22. Siege of Power