King Buzzo (Buzz Osborne) stomped across the stage like a possessed wizard, his guitar tone as heavy and gnarled as ever, wielding it like a chainsaw through molasses, dragging the crowd through warped riffs and hypnotic grooves. He casts his spells through sheer volume, hair defying gravity, and riffs thicker than cold oatmeal. Steven McDonald, decked out in a suit with massive eyeballs, was equal parts glam-rock jester and low-end assassin, injecting boundless energy and charisma. He looks like the world's most flamboyant trial attorney, grooving like the basslines owed him money. He plays his bass like a man possessed by both Bootsy Collins and Frankenstein's monster. Always a show-stealer. Absolutely unhinged, and totally brilliant.

Their stage backdrop - a surreal image of Esmeralda from Bewitched, that stared into your soul the whole time - added a warped, vintage flair to the chaos, as if the 1970s icon had been drafted into the Church of THE MELVINS. And why not? It was clearly a religious event in drop-D tuning. (NOTE: I caught one photo at the end of the set with Dale and Coady, which reminds me of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam). Seems apropos.

Highlights included "A History of Bad Men", "Blood Witches" and "Honey Bucket", which felt tight and delightfully maniacal. At the same time, Crover and Willis' drumming remained a monstrous backbone to the entire set.

Setlist:

• "Working The Ditch"
• "The Bloated Pop"
• "Never Say You're Sorry"
• "Evil New War God"
• "It's Shoved"
• "Billy Fish"
• "A History of Bad Men"
• "Blood Witch"
• "Honey Bucket"
• "Revolve"
• "Your Blessened"

Whether it was a song like "Scum" or a track off Throes of Joy In The Jaws of Defeatism (a very British-sounding album title), the band didn't let up for a second. The crowd went into a flailing whirlpool of limbs in about 3.5 seconds from the start of their set.

This entire show wasn't just a lineup-it was a ceremony-three generations of heavy, strange, politically-charged, and wonderfully off-kilter music colliding in one glorious mess. If you weren't there, I'm sorry. If you were, you probably still can't hear certain vowels. It was the Super Bowl of fast, slow, ugly, loud, political, and psychedelic. It turned a typical Tuesday evening in Portland, OR, into a swirling pit of joy, tinnitus, and well-earned neck pain for many today.

Setlist:

• "Multinational Corporations, Part II"
• "Silence Is Deafening"
• "Lowpoint"
• "Smash a Single Digit"
• "Contagion"
• "Twist The Knife (Slowly)"
• "Narcoleptic"
• "Amoral"
• "The World Keeps Turning"
• "Retreat To Nowhere"
• "Social Sterility"
• "Dead"
• "Suffer The Children"
• "On The Brink of Extinction"
• "Backlash Just Because"
• "Fuck The Factoid"
• "Cold Forgiveness"
• "Scum"
• "Control"
• "You Suffer"
• "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (DEAD KENNEDYS cover)
• "Seige of Power"