Municipal Waste - Slime and Punishment

Iron Reagan kind of usurped Municipal Waste as the 2017 thrash revival party’s token crossover group, but as a thrash enthusiast who is enjoying seeing new thrash bands compete the old style with more evolved genres, more contribution is a plus for me. The comparison and the link through vocalist Tony Foresta and bassist Land Phil to Iron Reagan is an obvious one and one that helps gauge where this album stands, and unfortunately it stands below Iron Reagan’s. Crossover Ministry is essentially sonically identical, but a more attention-grabbing listen than Slime and Punishment, which employs the same campy gang vocals and punk rock themes with much more homogeneity. While the campiness of Municipal Waste’s music is also part of the appeal, Slime and Punishment suffers even more from the same dragging that Crossover Ministry does despite the virtually identical short lengths of both projects. It’s not an unenjoyable album, but it’s not anything representative of 5 years of consistent construction and not exactly worth that kind of wait, especially when it seems like a bunch of very plausible leftovers from a different band.

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