After initially surfacing as a limited tour-exclusive physical release through Amphetamine Reptile Records, the full-length collaboration between the Melvins and UK grindcore pioneers Napalm Death—titled Savage Imperial Death March—has officially received its wide global release via Ipecac Recordings. Grab the album via themelvins.lnk.to/savage

Named after the name of their co-headlining tour of their joint runs in 2016 and 2025, the 8-track album is a genuine 50/50 studio collaboration rather than a standard split LP. Recorded at the Melvins' studio in Los Angeles, the project features Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover performing alongside Napalm Death members Barney Greenway, Shane Embury, and John Cooke.

 

Buzz was recently interviewed via Loudwire where he amongst other things he talked about the collaboration:

I really enjoy it. I've been knowing them since their very first tour of the U.S. I saw them on their very first tour, which was late '80s, early '90s. I met them not tremendously long after that. We'd done various shows here and there with them prior to this thing. And then we did a big tour with them in 2016, which was a big U.S. tour that I worked really hard with our booking agent to make a tour that I thought those guys would really enjoy.

And then they loved it and then we did another one last year with them. It was even bigger. I think it was 52 shows or 54 shows, something like that, in the U.S. We played literally everywhere we could. The drummer said something really funny. He was like, "This is about five weeks longer than I would've liked." Which I thought was really funny. But they loved it. They thought it was really fun. And they came back and did a tour this year.

I would love to do Europe and Australia and everything with those guys. Doing the record, this time when it came around, I said, "You know, we should do some kind of recording and put it out as a limited edition EP or something like that, that we can record, or we can sell as we tour on the road." They go, "Great." And so two of the guys came over, Shane and John, and we went to work.

It was such a collaborative effort that I can't remember exactly who played what on what. I know I played some bass and guitar, and I know I sang. I can tell that. And I know those guys all did that too. They all played guitar, they all played bass.

And it was really like, "You know, we need a guitar solo in this spot." "Um, you do it." You know? "Okay." So it was really like that. There was no egos. We laughed our way through the whole thing. It was really fun. And then in the end, we had enough stuff for a whole album and then we gave it to Barney.

And Barney added his magic to it and I think brought it to another level and it was very, very cool. And I am really proud of that record and really happy it came out on Ipecac eventually. Not just a EP that no one, not that, not that many people would ever hear.

Now it gets a full release and people seem to dig it and I think it's a surprise for them. And I don't really know any other bands that have done that kind of thing. A true collaboration where we are really letting each other form one new band. It's not like I contributed songs. Melvins contributed songs and Napalm contributed. It's a true collaborative effort. I can't think of any. Can you think of anybody?

I can't think of anybody that's done that. Probably too many egos involved, and so it would never, they'd never let it work. But we're all, "Nah," we split everything evenly, and everybody does what they want. And this is to have fun and make something really cool.

Read More: Loudwire: Melvins' Buzz Osborne Praises Band's Latest Creative Challenge

New Noise Issue 81 features The Melvins with Napalm Death and includes a flexi. The cover and flexi art was created by Mackie Osborne and the exclusive flexi track is a remix of the album track "Some Other Kind of Antichrist" by Toshi Kasai. Check out the interview over at New Noise!