Review Summary: An album worthy of a listen for any Municipal Waste fan.
Along with Violator and Toxic Holocaust, Municipal Waste has been one of the names within the early/mid-2000s retro thrash wave that has gained more recognition and respect from the metal community over the years. It’s very common to see the band’s logo on snapback caps and battle jackets at metal festivals, and although nowadays we can complain that these three groups influenced so many later (and often much dumber) thrash revival acts, Waste’s adrenaline-filled and catchy crossover style has resulted on entertaining, juvenile and beloved studio albums among the modern thrash crowd such as the hilariously short
Waste ‘Em All or the band’s sophomore record
Hazardous Mutation. Party thrash par excellence.
Since 2003 the quintet from Richmond, Virginia, was one of the most unstoppable and inexhaustible sources in terms of quick and aggressive crossover thrash, and it wasn’t until 2012’s
The Fatal Feast when the band decided to take a long break of recording studio albums. What happened during this 5-year break between that fatal feast (sic) and this
Slime and Punishment？ Not many things, the most notable event being the participation of vocalist Tony Foresta in a new project, crossover thrash supergroup Iron Reagan, which to date has released three studio albums. Needless to say those who really love to complain about Municipal Waste repeating itself, as well as those who’re waiting for them to reinvent the wheel shouldn’t bother with their last release. Musically, it’s not particularly different from
Massive Aggressive or
The Fatal Feast, and yet it shares far more with the latter. Though
Massive Aggressive was a decent attempt to make a more mature and focused album, it was somewhat inconsistent itself.
Continuing with the wild approach of
The Fatal Feast, as well as the inclusion of a new and second guitarist Nick Poulos, Municipal Waste still sounds very energetic, fresh and confident in 2017. As one would expect, chunky, sharp riffs backed up by loud and angry vocals dominate verses before giving way to their trademark gang choruses as on the powerful ''Shrednecks'' or the quick, absurdly fast ''Enjoy the Night,'' with occasional shredding, short solos scattered on songs like ''Dingy Situations'' or the tight and extremely memorable instrumental ''Under the Waste Command,'' which contains enough solid musical ideas to justify its inclusion in the album and be one of the most remarkable moments of this record.
The quality of Municipal Waste’s return to form overall is very consistent and solid throughout its twenty-eight minutes, accompanied by a flawless, impeccable production and a hard-hitting, thick and memorable sound, pretty much what we expect from this band; standouts include straightforward, in-your-face thrash attacks such as ''Low Tolerance'' and ''Bourbon Discipline,'' the anthemic and catchy title track, the badass ''Excessive Celebration'' and the relentless, extremely fun closer ''Think Fast,'' all of them containing dumb and partying fun in the grand Municipal Waste tradition. ''Parole Violators'' is also worth noting thanks to its unstoppable riffing and an amusing, cartoonish spoken-word bridge that avoids sounding too cheesy or ridiculous.
In a world completely full of risky, daring and complex music, sometimes it’s nice to kick back to a simpler time and have fun for a while. Considering the weakness of their contemporaries, it’s nice to see that Municipal Waste is able to stay relevant and sound as powerful, strong and juvenile as ever. On the whole
Slime and Punishment is the sound of a band that not only stays true to its brief and frantic crossover style, but has successfully adapted with times and is far away from its last days or sounding stale, registering as an addictive and worthy purchase for any modern thrash fan and head-banging metalhead.
*Re-written 6/10/2018*
