With so many bands looking to change their sound over recent years, it was almost a relief to be able to sit down and take a listen to a band that not only kept to the sound that their fans have come to know and love over the years but fully embrace it. Municipal Waste’s brand new album Slime And Punishment is not just the band going through the ‘same old stuff’, no it’s fresh, and the catchiness and cheekiness that flows throughout the album making it an album you feel that true fans of the band are going to warm to pretty quickly.
Part of the joy of listening to a Municipal Waste album has always been never knowing what you are going to get next throughout an album and the same goes for Slime And Punishment. ‘Breathe Grease’ sounds like old school Suicidal Tendencies, ‘Enjoy The Night’ sees the band capture the famous thrash/punk crossover that they do best while ‘Poison –The-Preacher’ feels like the band has embraced a death metal style somewhere along the journey.
There is a fun-ness though that flows throughout the album and that makes the album seem longer than the 29 minutes that it runs for. With songs about partying and the fun vibes of ‘Think Fast’ plus ‘Death Proof’ – a fun sounding track feels like something that The Beach Boys would have written on acid – this is the kind of album that you just put on, sit back and enjoy.
While some people over the years have not taken Municipal Waste as seriously as they should have this is an album that shows the musical talent of the band. The guitar work of Ryan Waste and Nick Poulos on this album is amazing. The guitars virtually scream on ‘Dingy Situations,’ ‘Shrednecks’ is a track that will be embraced by guitar lovers everywhere, while the guitar solo on the track the album takes its name from is one for the ages. And for any youngsters out there that are in punk bands take a listen to ‘Amateur Sketch’… that’s how you create punk intensity.
Slime And Punishment are purely an album that sees a band do what they do best and despite its length is one of the best buys that any thrash and punk fans out there can purchase in 2017.
