Hazardous Thrashcore!
Virginia metallers Municipal Waste have been hailed as the new kings of crossover, offering fast, raw thrashcore in the style of Corrosion of Conformity, Suicidal Tendencies and Nuclear Assault, which added up can be a brutal outcome.
'Hazardous Material' offers 16 tracks of brutal-but-brief hardcore mixed with thrash riffs and raw punk vocals, despite the amount of tracks, this album only lasts for a somewhat disappointing 26 minutes, but do you listen to bands like this because they have some great 9 minute epics to offer? No.
Opening with brilliant track entitled 'Intro/Death Ripper' this is certainly something fresh, it's almost like we are in the late 80s just getting into Thrash again. 'Unleash The Bastard' has a slightly raw punk feel to it, almost sounding like The Exploited, a brief, but chaotic two minutes. I could go on about the other tracks, but they all sound very similar to be honest, great as they may be, all very similar. It seems that Municipal Waste have also gone for the easy route, while still having sixteen tracks on the album, it only clocks in at 26 minutes, which is a rip off for people who are going to/have bought/buy it.
The band themselves are fairly capable of pulling most things off, from thrash riffs to complicated drum fills, and the vocals can be sucessfully Thrash and Hardcore - fairly impressive. The production of the album is also good, everything can be heard equally as it should be.
With 'Hazardous Material', it is hard to tell when one song ends and another starts, they all seem to merge in to one another, and they all sound TOO alike. This album has some brilliant songs though and although they may sound alike, they do not get boring, and for those of you with a short attention span, don't worry, it's not even half an hour long!
This band are something fresh for those of you wanting to hear some classic thrashcore, you will love this album whether you are a fan of Anthrax or Stampin' Ground, a great effort.