MUNICIPAL WASTE – “THE FATAL FEAST”
NUCLEAR BLAST (2012)

Metal Church - The Present Wasteland

Pick up any extreme music related magazine, check out any Metal blog or Internet site and chances are that you will come across a piece of information that’s related to the Richmond Thrash/Crossover outfit Municipal Waste. Long before they were offered the services and support of prestigious labels such as Earache and now Nuclear Blast, the quartet’s activities were fuelled by a strong DIY ethos – the same ethos that helped them establish a leading name in the Thrash Metal revivalist scene. My previous ‘encounters’ with their music had left me with a positive but somewhat restrained reaction, but that was enough to motivate me to review their latest offering, “The Final Feast”.

Even though I did not remember much about the band’s previous effort “Massive Aggressive” (2009), it literally took a couple of minutes to remind myself what these guys are all about! If I were to name one main influence, that would have to be Nuclear Assault, especially with regards Tony Foresta’s approach to vocals, however fans of old-school crossover bands like DRI will find many things to be joyful about. Municipal Waste love all things fast and furious and, more importantly, they like to blend their straight-forward rhythmical riffs with vocals of a more Hardcore/Punk orientation. The average duration of their songs does not exceed the two minute gap, so the key to this16-track album’s success really depended on the quality of Ryan Waste’s guitar work and his ability to pick up and hold a certain momentum quite early on. So, how did the album fare?

Well, as far as I am concerned, nothing much has changed these last three years in terms of musical approach and compositional skills. People who found the band’s previous album to be particularly appealing will certainly warm to “The Fatal Feast” while those who question the necessity of such musical offerings in the year 2012 will only have their beliefs further re-enforced. Following the spacey key into “Waste In Space”, the Nuclear Assault vocal melodies and Punky DRI-influenced riffs provide a promising starts however both “New Dead Masters” and “Unholy Abductor” which follow are what you could describe as ‘generic’ tunes. In “Idiot Check” Philip “Landphil” Hall is provided with a short leading role and helps create the right vibe for both the Exodus sounding “Covered In Sick-The Barfer” and “You’re Cut Off” to reach maximum effect. From that point on, and with the exception of the catchy rhythmical “The Monster With 21 Faces” whose riffs are absolutely deadly, the album is evenly split between average sounding songs like “Crushing Chest Wound” or “The Fatal Feast” and those like “Jesus Freaks” and “Death Tax” which provide a few interesting themes but are far from being described as truly inspirational.

The ‘problem’ that I continue having with Municipal Waste and albums such as “The Fatal Feast” is the same since the “New Wave” of Thrash Metal scene first came to prominence. Though I enjoy the energy and I respect the passion and love that these young artists have towards the music of Thrash bands that I literally grew up listening to, I cannot say that from an originality point of view I am particularly impressed with what’s on offer. There is nothing in this album that I have never heard before by either Nuclear Assault or DRI but, with both these bands being currently inactive, maybe supporting these lads on their Thrash Metal ‘crusade’ is not such a bad idea. To summarise: I may never end up wearing one of their shirts but I certainly do not have a problem listening to their music.

John Stefanis

Rating: ***1/2 (3.5/5.0)

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