RSS Feed


MUNICIPAL WASTE
Electrified Brain

Nuclear Blast (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

Now somewhat veterans of the whole New Wave Of Thrash Metal scene, this Richmond, Virginia-based crossover cult is back with its seventh full-length outing and an extra layer of grit in the vocal delivery of Tony Foresta (Iron Reagan). However, apart from that it’s still the Municipal Waste you know and want to get drunk with as the combo crashes through a selection of cuts that predictably marry the likes of Vio-lence, Exodus, Anthrax, Forbidden and D.R.I.

Strangely, I’ve flitted in and out of Municipal Waste’s discography since their inception in 2001, but it was the whole “re-thrash” genre which tended to put me off as so many bands were all too eager to bow at the altar of regurgitation and mimicry. Even so, these guys did provide dollops of nostalgia and after each record always prompted me to watch classic, cheesy 80s horror movies like Street Trash, The Stuff and Class Of Nuke ’Em High.

For me, humour in thrash is something I always took with a pinch of salt having had the 80s and early 90s UK thrash scene forced down my throat only to puke it back up and pick out the bits (and there wasn’t many) that I wanted to chew back on.

Electrified Brain is the same hazardous material from a band that throws the best parties even though you swear each time that you won’t be turning up. The opening title cut features that zany Nuclear Assault-inspired vocal rasp and direction. There’s some effective mosh-pit chugging bolstered by the bass of Land Phil, but as each track greets you like a full beer can to the skull you start to welcome the predictability. It’s drunken crossover thrash, simple as that.

‘Demoralizer’ exhibits some nice fiery lead work and hasty percussion, while the likes of ‘Last Crawl’, ‘High Speed Steel’, ‘Crank The Heat’ and ‘Restless And Wicked’ all bridge that gap between Nuclear Assault and Slayer yet with that Anthrax-cum-D.R.I. level of goofiness dripping with gang chants and drunken skateboarding skids. And so it continues with ‘Ten Cent Beer Night’, ‘’Thermonuclear Protection’ and ‘Paranormal Janitor’.

Yes, it’s comical at times and I do take off my cap to the guys for continuously putting us through the shredder, and the live shows certainly concentrate more on stage diving rather than selfies, but it remains sterile thrash metal that’s been done countless times before and it starts to feel as if we must praise them just because they spearheaded the whole New Wave Of Thrash Metal scene.

Electrified Brain was always going to slice you with its sharpness, speed and crispness, and it was always going to eat your brains like one of those ambling corpses from Return Of The Living Dead. I’m not tired of it, I just don’t actually need it, but there’s a whole host of cannibalistic underground dwellers out there who crave this sort of thrashin’ frenzy like it’s the last beer on the planet.

I can’t give you anymore review-wise, and Municipal Waste can’t give you anymore musically, but this new opus remains one big, sweaty and beer-soaked mosh-pit you keep on returning to. Strap in, the rollercoaster is off the rails once again – Electrified Brain is for beastly boys and ghastly girls everywhere.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share