via//chicago

np: "Wrong Answer" - Municipal Waste

The retro thrash movement is several years and hundreds of bands old by now, but we may now just be getting to the part of the trend that reveals which bands are in this for the long haul and which ones are going to disappear back into the ether. 2009 has seen releases from three of the standard bearers, as far as I'm concerned. Warbringer's Waking Into Nightmares and Skeletonwitch's Breathing the Fire both showcased tremendous growth for each band and are among my most listened to metal albums of the year. My favorite retro thrash release, however, came from Virginia's Municipal Waste. They came to my attention via 2007's The Art of Partying, which was decent enough retro thrash but the overload of songs dedicated to partying and beer drinking never really sat well with me - even though the riffs were powerful as hell. I much prefer my thrash metal lyrics to trend towards the dark and supernatural, thankfully Municipal Waste moved in that direction with Massive Aggressive. Song titles like "Wolves of Chernobyl", "The Wrath of the Severed Head", and "Mech-Cannibal" show where their heads were at this time. The riffs are even better this time around and I fully appreciate that band realizing the inherent silliness of this micro-revival and the way they keep tongue planted firmly in cheek. Just check out this suitably cheesy and gory video for "Wrong Answer":