Municipal Waste: Slime and Punishment (2017)

For reasons that are not at all clear to me, this is actually the first time I have checked out Municipal Waste.  Based on my typical listening habits and my love of crossover/thrash metal, it would seem like Municipal Waste would be high on my list of bands to check out.  Hell, I'm perplexed as to why this has taken so long.  It is not as if I was unaware of the band.  I have been aware of them since 2007's The Art of Partying.  And yet, here we are.

As mentioned, Municipal Waste plays a crossover, though much more on the thrash metal side of things.  Given my love of Nuclear Assault, S.O.D., Suicidal Tendencies and Power Trip, among others, this would be an ideal band to check out.  I don't know why it has taken so long, but I will be going back after hearing this release.

The songs on this album are all fast and short.  Not a single one makes it to the three minute mark and the entire album is over in less than half an hour.  In the meantime, Municipal Waste makes sure to fully utilize as much of that time as possible, filling it with riffs upon riffs and the manic shouting of vocalist Tony Foresta.  There is not much time for melody, though the band does throw in some blazing guitar solos at times.  The punk energy of the band is on full display throughout and there is not a dull moment on the album.  It is true that the songs kind of blend together after awhile as Municipal Waste do not really change up the tempo much throughout. 

Municipal Waste does not reinvent the wheel on this album.  There is really nothing here that cannot be found on other crossover bands' albums.  Yet, their manic energy is infectious and this is a fun album to listen to, and I have found it makes good workout music.  It may be formulaic, but it is still damn fun.

FMA: Tiger Junkies: D-Beat Street Rock 'n Rollers (2008)

Originally reviewed here.

I had seen mention of Tiger Junkies quite a bit but I never really looked into them. Part of that is probably due to the band's ridiculous name. It is the kind of name you might expect for a hair band. And the "D-Beat" in the album name is more of a reference to something hardcore, rather than metal. I never really looked much farther than that and certainly not enough to see who was attached to the project.

If I had looked at the two individuals responsible for Tiger Junkies, I would have felt a lot different about checking them out. That is because Tiger Junkies is made up of Joel Grind from Toxic Holocaust (a favorite of mine) and Yasuyuki Suzuki of Abigail (who I am not as familiar with but still enjoy). The band began as a tradition between the two in which Grind would play with Suzuki whenever he happened to be in Japan. I am a big Toxic Holocaust fan and also enjoy Grind's work with Yellowgoat, even though both projects are basically the same thing. This is a re-release of the project's 2008 album with some extra material thrown in and one song removed.

With Grind's involvement, it is pretty clear what style of music this is going to be. It is a fast-paced thrash/crossover style that owes a great deal to the music of Motörhead, Discharge, Agnostic Front's Cause for Alarm and early Corrosion of Conformity. It is hardcore punk played with a lot of metallic riffs and a punk attitude. The songs are all fast and short with sneering vocals provided by both Grind and Suzuki oftentimes in a call-and-response style. The songs are not overly sophisticated, the riffs are simple and straightforward and the lyrics are typically about sex, partying, and booze.

Ultimately this is a dumbed-down, simplistic crossover album. There is something to be said for music that you can just put on and trash everything in sight while listening to. This is not for people who want their music to say something as it really doesn't. It's hardcore mixed with metal. That's it. There's nothing wrong with that.

FMA Reviews: Power Trip: Manifest Decimation (2013)

Originally reviewed here.

If there is one style of metal that has kind of passed me by to my regret, it is crossover. I just do not have a lot of experience listening to the subgenre. But that is slowly starting to change. It all started a few months ago when I was listening to my Skullcrushers compilation, which has tracks from Exodus, Megadeth, Celtic Frost, Voivod and more, when all of a sudden this track came up that I had heard a million times before, but it just stuck with me. That song was from Nuclear Assault and it was called "Critical Mass". Corrosion of Conformity's "Loss for Words" and Prong's "Beg to Differ" also appeared in the compilation and grabbed my attention. All of a sudden, crossover clicked for me.

Obviously I would not be telling this long-ass, boring story if there were not some connection to this review. Some day I will tell a boring long story that has absolutely no relevance to the review just to keep readers on their toes.  But that will not be this day.

Anyway, Power Trip is a crossover band whose sound shows a very strong Nuclear Assault influence. It is an incredibly harsh and chaotic sound. It is aggressive, biting, and angry. And most of all, it gets the blood pumping. This is terrific music to listen to while working out because of its speed and intensity. It is just a vicious album all the way through. A lot of people may think of Suicidal Tendencies or other bands who use a lot of humor and light-hearted party attitudes toward music. This is definitely not in the same ballpark. This is angry, much more like Nuclear Assault.

For some reason this came from Southern Lord, which is very surprising. That label is well-know for doom, black, and sludge, so this album really stands out.

The only complaint that I have about this one is that it flies by so fast and once it is done, it is hard to think of any real highlights, other than the crushing "Crossbreaker". But it is a hell of a ride.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 100

ARTIST:  Prong
ORIGIN:  New York, NY
TITLE:  Cleansing
LABEL:  Sony Music
YEAR:  1994
GENRE:  Crossover/Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck"
NOTES:  I always wanted this album, mostly for "Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck", which was once one of the heaviest songs I had ever heard.  Plus it was incredibly violent.  Unfortunately other than a few other decent songs on the album, this is the least impressive overall Prong album I had heard to this point.  To this date, it is still the last album by the band I have picked up.  But "Snap Your Fingers" is still fun.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 88

ARTIST:  Prong
ORIGIN:  New York, NY (United States)
TITLE:  Prove You Wrong
LABEL:  Epic
YEAR:  1991
GENRE:  Crossover/Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Irrelevant Thoughts"
NOTES:  This album is seriously worth listening to just for the amazing drumming.  Ted Parsons has always been an amazing drummer but he really showed that off on this release.  I had not really listened to this a lot lately, but used to quite a bit when I was in high school.  Every once in awhile, I will get an urge to listen to some crossover and that is when this album comes out.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 12

ARTIST:  Suicidal Tendencies
ORIGIN:  Los Angeles, CA (United States)
TITLE:  Join the Army
LABEL:  Caroline Records
YEAR:  1987
GENRE:  Crossover/Thrash Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "War Inside My Head"
NOTES:  As I recall when I was younger, my parents found a bunch of tapes abandoned by a lake.  This was one of the tapes in there.  They never did anything with them, so they were fair game.  This was the only thing remotely metallic in the tapes, so when I was getting into metal, I claimed it.  This is a short and very fast album with a ton of energy.  I am not the biggest Suicidal Tendencies fan, but this is a very good release.