I remember buying an old record player at a garage sale years ago that actually had a 16 RPM speed as well as 45, 33, and 78. My friend Jason was ecstatic.

"Do you know what this means?" he asked. "Now you can listen to Sabbath even slower." Well that is in essence what I did last night at the Main Street Armory while The Melvins played. The quartet -- bass, guitar, and two sets of drums -- positively pummeled the crowd with an incredibly heavy slow-motion dirge. The band was almost exclusively back lit and guitarist King Buzzo stood silhouetted before a wall of Orange amps dressed like a wizard whose head had exploded. As a photographer, in the limited light, I was left to interpret what I saw much in the same way The Melvins interpret sound. When all is said and done, The Melvins will be an adjective, a noun, a verb in our musical lexicon...if the band isn't already.

I've often complained about the sound in the Armory; the incoherent wash and echo when bands play to loud. But headliners Down played as loud as anybody I've seen in the joint (OK, maybe not as loud as Sevendust) and kept the pounding dynamics thundering, crisp, and in your face. Phil Anselmo may not have that operatic upper range, but my god this dude can roar. Easily one of the best voices in metal.