ALBUM REVIEW: Slime and Punishment – Municipal Waste
Releasing their first full-length album in five years thrashers MUNICIPAL WASTE return all guns blazing with Slime and Punishment. The record is the band’s sixth and is one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year.
With immediate effect MUNICIPAL WASTE knock you down with their much loved straight to the point thrash. Breathe Grease is under one minute long, the first track on the album and it already packs a party in it and gets you pumped, if that isn’t what MUNICIPAL WASTE are about then nobody knows.
The thing about Slime and Punishment when listening is that with certain tracks such as Dingy Situations, Poison The Preacher and Bourbon Discipline, they take elements of all of the band’s previous records and bungs them together. That isn’t bad at all, but it’s also good that with other tracks like Parole Violators and Under the Waste Command have a fresh new tang to it, keeping everyone on their toes. Under the Waste Command especially with it’s funky riffs and solos, it just feels like MUNICIPAL WASTE on steroids.
The anticipation for the album from fans is rightly placed, MUNICIPAL WASTE are incredible at what they do and with every release they get stronger but no record outshines the other. Each one has something going on for it with their own anthems and that urge to just go absolutely nuts, Slime and Punishment is just another stepping stone in the right direction to the party. It’s got everything you want, you want to listen to MUNICIPAL WASTE and that’s exactly what you get, there is no messing about and experimenting too much to detract who they are, some bands just don’t need to be touched and it’s good to see these are one of those.
The downfall of the album is that everyone knows you’re not getting 8-minute tracks and symphonies but Slime and Punishment is just over so soon. You expect that with thrash albums and you embrace it but there’s just something a lot quicker with the start to finish with Slime and Punishment – they say that time flies when you’re having fun but this felt like it was over in a heartbeat. Sometimes, that’s all good, but for something you’ve been waiting five years for after the greatness that was The Fatal Feast you just want a bit more time to appreciate just how good fresh material is from MUNICIPAL WASTE.
Slime and Punishment is without a doubt not a disappointment in terms of the anticipation that has been created around it, minus the over too soon feeling but that’s just wanting more. It’s a straight up MUNICIPAL WASTE album and that’s exactly what was needed, there’s no messing – it is 100% straight in there with giving you what you want, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it and thank them that they didn’t.
Rating: 9/10
Slime and Punishment is set for release on June 23rd via Nuclear Blast Records.
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