Laying waste once again!
As much as I rant and rave on here about how bands fail to progress or how band x is a rip off of band y with no originality blah, blah, blah, sometimes, just sometimes, there’s comfort in a band just doing what they do and doing it well even if they never show the slightest interest in looking outside the box they so happily exist in. AC/DC made a career out of it, as did Slayer. Suffice to say, with album number five, Richmond Virginia (U.S.A.) quartet Municipal Waste are clearly heading down the same path with The Fatat Feast: Waste in Space, and that will be enough to please the hell out of Wastoids (aka fans of the Waste). Over the course of each release, these guys have unleashed a frantic and fun mix of Nuclear Assault, Suicidal Tendencies, Gang Green and of course, the mighty D.R.I.
Having said all that, the band do break from the mould briefly with the Steve Moore (Zombi) crafted Waste in Space intro piece (and also the latter The Fatal Feast intro) that really fit nicely with the space themed title of the album. From there on in however, it really is business as usual here – fast, furious, fun crossover thrash. Nothing more, nothing less. You know what to expect – gritty, powerful, cutting riffs, brilliant, driving tempo full of changes and solid rhythms, all topped off with snappy, clever lyrics spat out often with tongue in cheek by vocalist Tony Foresta.
For whatever reason, and I still can’t quite put my finger on exactly what it is, the quartet’s last outing – 2009’s Massive Aggressive – didn’t quite deliver the goods that fans of the Waste have come to expect. Let’s face it – the two albums that really brought the band to the world stage – 2005’s Hazardous Mutation and 2007’s killer The Art of Partying – certainly set a pretty high standard as the band’s introduction to the masses. Those two albums clearly captured the essence of crossover thrash done well and Massive Aggressive left a lot of Waste-oids (fans of the Waste) scratching their heads as to what had gone wrong with Massive Aggressive.
Thankfully now, three years later, fans can put that album behind them and rejoice – this is, mosh, slam, thrash and generally break shit in your living room or what have you – to the sounds of Municipal Waste in full flight. They have once again found their infectious crossover thrash groove with their excellent new release The Fatal Feast. This will restore the faith to those who were shaken by the inconsistent nature of their last outing without a question of doubt.
(Nuclear Blast Records/Riot! Entertainment)
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