So Cometh the Fatal Feast

Trash fans rejoice! Municipal Waste has, once again, not let ya down with their sixth studio release, The Fatal Feast.  The album was released Tues. April 10^th,  featuring about 40 minutes of pure adrenaline pumping tracks.  It's just what you need for those coming summer days: just think, a nice cold beer, sun shining down upon your pale-ass skin from the winter prior, and Tony Foresta practically screaming blood through the speakers at you.  Radical.

The band's come pretty far from sludgy roots they're built from, from the DRI-esque Waste 'Em All and more thrash/crossover influenced Hazardous Mutations. The Fatal Feast plays like the band's later two CDs, the style concreted in their fourth studio album The Art of Partying.  Fifty-five second songs are now being replaced with more developed, and creative three minute-long songs.  In fact, only one track on this album is under a minute, the uncomfortable "Waste in Space" intro, which is a short instrumental leading into "Repossession".  These two tracks are quite reminiscent of the intro of The Art of Partying, which couples "Pre-Game" with the title track of the album in a similar manner.  The Fatal Feast doesn't lunge for your jugular however, like most of the other CDs do, immediately barraging you pulsing double-bass and machine-gun chords.  Instead, this album incorporates a synth intro, creating an eerie sci-fi/horror atmosphere that, despite it rather weak demeanor, will still get you perspiring with anxiety.      

As the CD progresses, it's nice to see that the band hasn't lost its touch at creating over-the-top grotesque images with their lyrics and music.  You'll be retching red at "Covered in Sick/The Barfer" and clawing for air at "Crushing Death Wound".  Municipal Waste also strays from the macabre, releasing several satirical tracks such as the tongue-in-cheek "Idiot Check",  anti-religious "Jesus Freaks", and the ever more popular anti-establishment "Authority Complex".  

A major bummer to the non-avid listener of thrash is that the songs become redundant and mundane, often following the same logarithm of a slow, but driving intro followed by a pause...a speed metal section, and then tapering off at the end with another slow (but driving!) outro.  This album is no exception to that rule and although its not a bad thing, it doesn't create variety.  The Richmond-based band was aware of this and slapped the technical and harmonious "Residential Disaster" at the end of the album.  The technicality of the guitar work in this song echoes that of Municipal Waste favorites "Unleash the Bastards" and "Intro/Deathripper" with the tone one would expect from early 90's so-cal punk, such as in NoFX's Ribbed.

So what are you waitin' for?!  Check this Bad Lary out if you're in need of a serious headbangin' session, after a few beers this album guarantees whiplash!