Melvins Announce New ‘Thunderball’ and ‘Death March’ Albums

The eternally prolific Melvins have announced two new albums in the past five days.

The track listings for Thunderball and Savage Imperial Death March and the band’s upcoming 2025 tour schedule are below.

These albums follow 2024’s Tarantula Heart.

Savage Imperial Death March, a six-song collaboration with the group’s 2025 touring partners Napalm Death, will be available on vinyl on tour and as a “cheapy $5 CD” from AmRep at an unspecified point. A limited-edition online vinyl edition sold out instantly on Sunday.

You can hear “Victory of the Pyramids” from Thunderball below.

Melvins previously toured with the grindcore legends – ask Loudwire what that means – back in 2016. The album release page doesn’t specify which Melvins members participated in the Death March sessions. Guitarist and singer Buzz ‘King Buzzo” Osbourne founded the band in 1983. Drummer Dale Crover joined in 1984 and bassist Steven McDonald has been with them since 2015.

Read More: Melvins’ King Buzzo Picks His Top Five Classic Rock Songs

Thunderball will be the third album from the band’s “Melvins 1983” lineup, which features Osbourne and founding drummer Mike Dillard. Crover switched to bass for 2013’s Tres Cabrones and 2021’s Working With God Melvins 1983 albums, but is not credited on Thunderball.

Buzzo and Dillard are instead joined by Void Maines and “electronic noise terrorist” Ni Maitres on the five-track, 37-minute album, which arrives on April 18.

“I wanted this one to be bombastic. I think it is,” Osbourne declared in the Thunderball press release. “I’ve been wanting to do something with Void Manes and Ni Maîtres for a long time. Both of them are exceptional talents and were a joy to work with. Their out-of-the-box use of electronics pushed Thunderball beyond my expectations.”

Crover sat out the Melvins’ 2023 tour after undergoing spinal surgery but recovered quickly enough to release and tour behind his 2024 solo album Glossolalia. He will rejoin Osbourne and McDonald for the band’s 2025 tour, which includes a brief March trip through California and two months of dates with Napalm Death beginning April 4 in San Diego and concluding June 7 in Berkley.

Melvins will be joined on these dates by Big Business and High on Fire drummer Coady Willis, who along with Big Business bandmate Jared Warren served as a member of the Melvins’ four-piece, twin-drummer lineup from 2006 to 2015.

Melvins 1983 ‘Thunderball’ Track Listing
1. “King of Rome”
2. “Vomit of Clarity”
3. “Short Hair With a Wig”
4. “Victory of the Pyramids”
5. “Venus Blood”

Melvins / Napalm Death ‘Savage Imperial Death March’ Track Listing
1. “Tossing Coins Into the Fountain of Fuck”
2. “Some Kind of Antichrist”
3. “Nine Days of Rain”
4. “Rip the God”
5. “Stealing Horses”
6. “Death Hour”

Melvins The Spring Break Tour Dates
March 1 Bakersfield, CA The Nile Theater
March 2 Fresno, CA Strummer’s
March 3 Sacramento, CA Goldfield Trading Post
March 4 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst Atrium
March 5 San Luis Obispo, CA SLO Brew Rock
March 7 Pioneertown, CA Pappy & Harriet’s

Melvins and Napalm Death Savage Imperial Death March Part II Tour Dates

April 4 San Diego, CA Music Box
April 5 Santa Ana, CA The Observatory
April 7 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
April 8 San Jose, CA The Ritz
April 10 Los Angeles, CA The Belasco
April 12 Las Vegas, NV Swan Dive
April 13 Phoenix, AZ The Van Buren
April 14 Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
April 15 El Paso, TX Lowbrow Palace
April 17 Dallas, TX The Echo Lounge & Music Hall
April 18 Austin, TX Emo’s
April 19 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall – Downstairs
April 20 Baton Rouge, LA Chelsea’s Live
April 21 New Orleans, LA House of Blues New Orleans
April 23 Tampa, FL The Orpheum
April 24 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
April 25 Orlando, FL The Beacham
April 26 Savannah, GA District Live
April 27 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade – Heaven Stage
April 28 Birmingham, AL Saturn
April 29 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club
May 1 Charlotte, NC The Underground – Charlotte
May 2 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
May 3 Virginia Beach, VA Elevation 27
May 4 Baltimore, MD Baltimore Soundstage
May 5 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
May 6 Allentown, PA Archer Music Hall
May 7 Brooklyn, NY Warsaw
May 8 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
May 10 Pittsburgh, PA Mr .Small’s
May 11 Cleveland, OH Globe Iron
May 12 Detroit, MI Saint Andrew’s Hall
May 13 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection
May 15 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s
May 16 Louisville, KY Mercury Ballroom
May 17 Nashville, TN Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
May 18 St. Louis, MO Red Flag
May 19 Chicago, IL Metro
May 20 Milwaukee, WI The Rave II
May 22 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
May 23 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s
May 24 Kansas City, MO Madrid Theatre
May 25 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room
May 27 Denver, CO Summit
May 29 Salt Lake City, UT Metro Music Hall
May 31 Bozeman, MT The ELM
June 1 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory
June 2 Seattle, WA The Showbox
June 3 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
June 4 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre
June 6 Reno, NV Virginia Street Brewhouse
June 7 Berkeley, CA Cornerstone Berkeley