As I may have said before I’m a comparatively new convert to thrash metal, It’s true I fought on the wrong side in the great Thrash/Glam war; but I’ve been rehabilitated now. One of my favourite musical discoveries of the last couple years was Municipal Waste The Art of Partying, sadly it doesn’t exist on vinyl and I had…to…download…it. It’s just so wrong, but the album is just so right! I listen to it at least once a week, usually in the gym and its hard, funny, catchy and just all round amazingly incredibly amazing. How can an album with a track called ‘Sadistic Magician’ be anything else? but as it’s not on vinyl I’m not here to talk about it.
Late one tipsy night I found a split 12″ by Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust called Toxic Waste on Ebay and paid for it, from the States; ouch! still why would my kids want to go to university anyway? no book learning never done me no good. Even better, it’s got an ace gruesome cover, a commemorative can coozy thingy with ‘Speed Metal Punx’ on it*, a lyric sheet, sticker, poster and it’s a Picture Disc. Sheer vinyl-nerd heaven. Oh and about 9 minutes of music on it.
Municipal Waste contribute ‘Mourning Sex’, a charming ditty which I’ll probably have as the first dance at my next wedding, about necrophilia – naturally. It gains massive 1537 bonus points for the immortal lines:
Lifeless Mass or piece of ass
A difference I can’t see
It really is a good track too, the rhythm section of Ryan Waste and Landphil^ is perfection itself. Municipal Waste, despite the LP covers tend towards the funnier, drinking, partying end of the thrash spectrum normally. Their second track is Trapped In The Sites’ (their spelling, not mine) about the Washington Sniper in October 2002, it is just classic Waste, including a brilliant chorus which slows down and chugs just right before it speeds up again for the verses. I found out the hard way that head banging and running on a treadmill are not compatible activities listening to this track this morning.
Toxic Holocaust, who I’d not even heard of prior to buying this record are a far scarier bunch by far – to the point where I only listen to them in the daylight with the sound turned right down in case Satan comes to claim me for his sex slave; you can’t be too careful about these things. ‘We Bring ‘Em Hell’ lists all the things TH would like to do to you and your neighbourhood, essentially – gratuitous violence and damage to property, Toxic Holocaust aren’t here to mow your lawn for you, or wash the car. Which is fine but like a lot of similar bands, they come over like a bunch of 13 year-old boys looking to shock Old Mrs Johnson down the road by being all potty-mouthed; sometimes it’s funny, sometimes not, sometimes I have time for it, sometimes not. ‘Altar-ed States’, which deals with the experience of death and being is by far the heaviest thing here and possibly the heaviest thing I own on vinyl, it’s mean and lean, not a single note wasted anywhere, the precision is almost military, a really impressive track.
So there you go 9 beautifully packaged minutes of mayhem. Altogether now,
We are the speed metal punks
We party in Hell
Thrashing in Hades with Satan himself
More tea vicar?
169 Down.
*which I think would instantly make me the toast of any high society gathering I found myself at.
^my favourite rock name ever.
I’ve not paid much attention to the re-thrash stuff so I’ve heard of both these bands… but not actually heard either of them!
I actually never took sides in the Glam/Thrash wars. I sort of wandered around shouting “can’t we all just get along?” while alternately listening to “Lick It Up” and “Show No Mercy”.
I actually saw active service in the glam camp (and I use the word advisedly), particularly in the 1988 campaign. I was wounded in action too; well I spilt a pint of cider and black on my white Cinderella T-shirt.
I just love Municipal Waste ‘The Art of Partying’, but its probably newer to me than it would be to you. How can you resist an album with a song on it called ‘Beer Pressure’ about your friends persuading you to stay out for that ‘just one more’ that turns into 8? or a song called ‘Headbanger face Rip’?!
You just can’t resist that! Or the amazing album covers.
During the 1988 wars I was mostly seen in a variety of KISS T-shirts but sometimes Iron Maiden and Slayer ones too so I guess I hedged my bets a bit!
Municipal Waste? Was the name Bureaucratic Infighting already taken?
I love the metal that has large doses of punk. Metallic metal seems so boring in comparison.
Can I play bass in Bureaucratic Infighting please?
I agree re. Punk influenced metal, its more about a certain amount of silliness factor for me, although I am wired to like old school metal too.
Besides the great tune, that video is wonderful stuff. Am I wrong to suggest these guys are the thrash version of Twisted Sister? From the way the singer holds the mike and interacts with the camera to the overhand guitar flourish to the cheesy actors probably selected from among the band member’s friends and families, they’re clearly not gonna to take it…
Absolutely, I always liked Twisted Sister. You can’t beat an overhand guitar flourish can you? If I were on a band I would develop a playing style where I did nothing else.
The track is from the awesome ‘The art of Partying’ which tells you just how serious they are.
Sounds like Sunday brunch music to me. Gotta love those necrophilia tracks. I think Alice Cooper may have started that whole thing with ” Cold Ethel”. Anyways..my love of thrash and speed metal began in 87′ with Suicidal Tendencies’ Join The Army. From there Megadeth, Anthrax, Death Angel, Slayer, and Metallica ruled my cassette player, then cd player. My brother and I even saw Alice in Chains, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer at one show the summer before my senior year. It was outdoors, and there were mosh pits about 50 feet in diameter spontaneously forming on the lawn. It was nuts.
Sunday brunch for sure, given its only 9 minutes long you could probably fit it in 6 times too. Alice did ‘I love the dead’ too, which I, umm, love.
I enlisted in the glam corps, so all this passed me by at the time.