BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For more than 42 years, Melvins have consistently produced some of the most brutal, heavy, thunderous, technical music spanning and innovating genres.
When the band formed, it brought together the intensity of classic metal acts such as Black Sabbath with the speed and aggression of Black Flag, weaving in elements of… well, whatever it pleased.
In an incredibly efficient span of just around an hour and 15 minutes, Melvins shredded through more than a dozen titles spanning the band’s history, filling the segues with even more noodling and experimentation before blasting right into the next track.Melvins at Musikfest Cafe
That innovative nature combined with music you could headbang to ended up inspiring acts such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Tool, Eyehategod, Sunn O))) and so very many more.
And on Melvins brought all that deep, dark energy that could fill a stadium into Musikfest Café at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.
In an incredibly efficient span of just around an hour and 15 minutes, Melvins shredded through more than a dozen titles spanning the band’s history, filling the segues with even more noodling and experimentation before blasting right into the next track.
Guitarist/vocalist Roger “Buzz” Osborne (aka King Buzzo) opened with introductory instrumental take on “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
What followed was a set by he and drummer Dale Crover, bassist Steven Shane McDonald (who also played with opener Red Kross) and drummer Coady Willis — that was a smorgasbord of sludge metal, experimental rock, doom, jazz-rock, noise and so much more.
Buzz’s guitar work easily transitioned from precision picks to heavy shreds to hanging chords, opening up the stage for dual drummers bringing on a tribal thump and a grimy bass to keep the pace.
Slam-dancing spreads out
The offbeat opening of “Working the Ditch” set the tone for the evening, with its seemingly haphazard start coalescing and building up into a crush cavalcade of ever-escalating guitars over crushing rhythm and Buzz’s trademark vocals.
Oh, and as for the vocals: Even after more than four decades on the mic, Buzz still manages to sing with the same projection and intensity he’s had since the very beginning.
That irresistibly crunch guitar and grimy backup of “A History of Bad Men” put the entire pit on edge, with a doom-like quality and sludgy distortion perfectly accented by Buzz’s punctuating the song with the lines “Don’t make a sound, they’re not dead, just sleeping.”
Those hardcore influences really shined on “Honey Bucket,” a classic off 1993 major label debut "Houdini," which takes the standard simplicity of punk to new levels while paying homage to the old school.
It’s quick, it’s heavy, it’s hard and it’s relatively simple, but it hits you right in the gut in just about three minutes.
Ask anyone in the pit that night: As the band blazed through the set list, the slam-dancing began spreading out a little further with each track.
'It's a big dark hell'
And up on the stage, Melvins fed off of every ounce of energy that crowd brought to the show.
Buzz drifted along the stage effortlessly while exploring several careers and genres’ worth of guitar prowess, headbanging his signature curly white mop top with nary a word between tracks.
McDonald, on the other side of the stage, tapped his own extensive history of hardcore punk and alternative rock in such a fashion that you could easily swear he’d been a founding member.
Crover and Willis started the evening essentially mirroring each other. But as the night progressed, one could easily see them shifting apart, augmenting each other’s bass kicks and symbol crashes with their own touches.
The evening came to an incredible close with “Night Goat,” which tiptoes in with dirty, muddled, distortion-heavy guitar grinding before the crushing rhythm sets in, with a brief interim of introspective noodling before getting back to those basics.
All the while, Buzz reminded everyone, “It’s a big dark world now, It’s a big dark Hell” in an intimidating growl.
The band stretched the track to its limits, and the audience ate up every second, with windows for each member to present a bit of a flourish before calling it a night.
As punks in battle jackets covered in patches left the café gushing over the show with old-school metal heads bearing foot-long beards, it was clear:
The evening was an incredible ride through one weird, heavy band’s insane career which touched countless other musicians and fans.
And at the end of the day, Melvins still manage to do it better than just about anyone else in the game.
