After a four year (mostly) dormant period, the crossover revivalists Municipal Waste return with a grime drenched piece of political catharsis with Slime and Punishment. In just under 30 minutes run time, this is a call to arms to unearth your denim jacket and get caught In a mosh.
The Waste crew aren’t playing games and certainly upping the aggression this time around. While plenty of the humor and tongue-in-cheek song titles are still ever present, there is a aggression to the music that hasn’t really been heard previously, or at least to this extent. Songs like “Breathe Grease” hammer this concept like a blacksmith bashing away…only your skull and eardrums are the anvil. “Amateur Sketch” starts at a frantic pace leading its way to a Megadeth-esque breakdown. Throwing gas to the grease fire that is this album are the grind-core length tracks “Enjoy the Night” and “Excessive Celebration” which clock in at 00:49 and 1:29 respectively. These are offset by the more mid-tempo jams of “Slime and Punishment” and “Think Fast” which help round out the album overall.
While the riffing, d-beat laden tunes are rife with energy fans of the band, or for anyone that’s ever heard thrash/crossover before for that matter, should know what to expect. They aren’t reinventing their sound by any means, hell, they are doubling down and capitalizing on their influences. But honestly, does anyone really want Municipal Waste to try their hand at expanding their palate to, say, prog like Vektor? I think not. We all look to MW for a quick, fun, and often too short of a time. If partying, moshing, and quick infectious tunes a la Anthrax and Nuclear Assault sound like fun to you, jump in, the Slime is warm.