Municipal Waste - Waste 'Em All (2003)

Municipal Waste are one of the key bands at the moment of a dying breed. The breed I speak of is the genre crossover which I hope/believe (a little bit) that Municipal Waste may be the saviours of. For those who do not know, Crossover is a term used for what you find in between hardcore punk and thrash metal (it being called crossover because it is neither punk nor metal but directly in between). What does this spawn? Exactly what you would expect, thrashing songs which are over before you can register anything actually happened and basically a fun record to listen to. The main band to start it off, who Municipal Waste have a habit of borrowing from, are Crumbsuckers. If you are a fan of Crumbsuckers then you are more than likely going to like this. This is Municipal Waste's first record if you do not include their earlier EPs. It was also released before they received this sudden burst of popularity they seem to be getting lately.

From the blasting drum beats at the beginning of The Executioner you know this album has a certain energy around it. The album is not too technical and is missing a lot of solos which is perculiar for the genre which it makes up for with some great riffs. The drums and bass are solid but do not expect anything spectacular or eye catching for that matter anywhere in the album. The vocals... ugh. I'm not much of a fan but hey his vocals definately fit in wih the music perfectly. As do the lyrical themes which aren't the most... thought provoking as shown in Drunk as Shit. They seem to focus on the comical and the silly rather than anything serious. The average song time is about a minute (and I'm not even over exagerating) so if you get this don't be expecting 30 minute prog rock epics or anything.Unfortunately, this means the length of the album is short which is quite tedious. But what you will find is highly energetic and highly entertaining music.

The record starts off with a somewhat perfect intro for this kind of album in the form of The Executioner, starting off heavy and building up speed and from that point never really seems to slow down until the end of The Mountain Wizard. The record has an overall feeling of being an album rather than a collection of songs which I really like about it. Basically, this is a fun album to listen to when you need to listen to something less serious. 

Tracklist 

1. The Executioner (Intro)
2. Sweet Attack
3. Mutants of War
4. Knife Fight
5. Drunk as Shit
6. Death Prank
7.Substitute Creature
8.Waste 'Em All
9.Toxic Revolution
10. I Want to Kill the President
11. Thrash? Don't Mind If I Do
12.Dropped Out
13. Blood Hunger
14. Jock Pit
15. The Mountain Wizard