Up from the depths of the toxic swamps, return Municipal Waste with their seventh studio album, Electrified Brain, on July 1 from Nuclear Blast Records. It is their first album in five years. This review might be longer than the album, but for good reason.
Municipal Waste have been partying for over two decades as one of the leading crossover thrash bands across the globe. Formed in Richmond, VA and set on conquering the world, drummer Dave Witte, bassist “LandPhil” Hall, lead guitarist Nick Poulous, rhythm guitarist Ryan Waste, and frontman Tony Foresta continue their bender as one of metal’s most fun bands. (Ask me about the time they played Warped Tour 2017 in New Jersey.)
The title track to Electrified Brain is about the electric chair (duh.) A sample of static kicks off the track before a riffstorm rains down upons us. LandPhil’s bass and Witte’ drums are mixed brilliantly. Segueing into the next track, “Demoralized” has more classic thrash riffage. This is an anti-authority anthem, and believe it or not, it sounds like the Waste Boys have slowed down their speed and chosen to let their songs be a little longer. A three minute MW song? That’s basically a slow jam. Their guitar harmonies at the end are sick, though.
“Last Crawl” shows us something I have never seen before in a Municipal Waste album; a character arc. Is Tony annoyed that someone ordered another round of drinks just before last call? A shocking new development. “Grave Dive” was one of the singles teasing this record and it’s about slaying their fans. I personally wouldn’t mind being slain by Municipal Waste in a crowd surfing incident. Even though they’re obnoxious (in a good way), their compositions are always delectable, as the syncopation laid down here is pummeling.
Their never-ending keg of riffs to chug from continues with “Thermonuclear Protection,” and lucky for us this keg never kicks. A song about nuclear proliferation, we’ve got divebombing guitars, an outro scream from Tony, and a Municipal Waste song with a message. The best song on this album is “Blood Vessel- Boat Jail,” one that starts with buoys and waves rippling. Tony is locked on a boat, in the brig, and he’s going to max out his credit card to keep his bender going. “Locked up in boat Jail!,” shouts the crew. Booze cruise, pirate ship, you take your pick, but this has the potential to be the song of the summer.
Electrified Brain is not only fun, but educational as well. Waste teaches us about “Ten Cent Beer Night,” the historic baseball game in 1974 between the Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Indians where a cup of beer was only a dime. Twice the normal capacity of the stadium showed up, limit six beers in a purchase but no limits on number of purchases, and a tense rivalry led to a riot throughout the game and after-what could possibly go wrong? “Ten cent beer night/Is what we call this war,”shouts Ryan and Tony in a call-and-response. People setting off fireworks in the stands, rushing the field with knives and bottles, people streaking, smoking ganja. Mass hysteria. Sounds like your typical Municipal Waste show.
The final track on this album is a bittersweet vision of the Waste afterworld. “Paranormal Janitor” breaks down the hellscape of cleaning ‘Municipal High’ for eternity; vomit on the lockers, a neverending stench in the gym, etc. That’s the thing about a neverending party, some poor porter (poorter) has to clean it up.
