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Live Reviews

Municipal Waste

Municipal Waste
The Horror
The Dome, London
20th October 2005

The Horror
The Dome, London
20/10/05

‘The eighties are over, get over it,’ someone shouts from the front as Municipal Waste steam into yet another slab of prime thrash metal from an era before things were Nu and metal was metal and metal was fast. Yes, the eighties are over but the crimes that have been committed against metal over the last few years by bozos like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Alien Ant Farm means that it’s time to start looking back to a time when metal was at it’s most vital and start drawing on the energy and enthusiasm and injecting it back into the music today. Municipal Waste draw their inspiration from a period in heavy music when the extremes of metal, hardcore and punk merged to create a genre then described as Crossover. By fusing the raw attitude of punk with the speed and simplicity of hardcore and power of metal, bands like Agnostic Front, Corrosion Of Conformity, Crumbsuckers, D.R.I. and Nuclear Assault created a whirlwind of energy as the bands played faster and faster. Combine this with the influence of speed/thrash metal like Exodus, Megadeth, Slayer and the like and you had a scene that rivalled the first wave of punk in the energy and attitude stakes.

But first, the incredible Horror lay waste to the entire venue tonight, showing us all exactly how this hardcore thing should be, and used to be done before somehow lame chugga-chugga metalcore started getting passed off as hardcore. From the moment they hit the stage they are lightning fast, stupidly tight and just so fucking powerful it makes you want to grab every other two bit hardcore band in the UK roughly round the back of the neck, shove their faces in it and scream ‘look, this is how it should be done!’ One minute they’re so fast you think they’re going to become air-born, then the next they kick into a comparatively more mid-paced stinging riff that just makes you wanna go wild and break stuff. The Horror are as good as any band from the golden age of eighties UK hardcore (Ripcord, Heresy, The Stupids) and their next album will peel your skin off. You have been warned.

Municipal Waste’s sense of fun is utterly addictive. They hit the stage amongst a barrage of flying bodies, lager and sweat. At one point someone surfboards off the stage before trying to surf across peoples heads as the band bombard us with crisps from their rider saying we all look too skinny and need fattening up. And all around everyone is thrashing and smiling and just getting off on the fun and energy of it all. This is how metal gigs should be. This is how metal gigs used to be. A riot. Thank you Municipal Waste for bringing the feeling back.

James Sherry