M.O.D. Returns to American Thrash

M.O.D. are a thrash metal band from New York City. Billy Milano, of Stormtroopers of Death, fronts this politically incorrect crew who have been together for thirty-one years now. Milano is no stranger to controversy. Even almost thirty years ago, he had stated his interest in now president Donald Trump running for the position. So, Milano has been known to share non-liberal views and that certainly follows him on the M.O.D. project.

With their first release in ten years, M.O.D. have delayed Busted, Broke & American multiple times, so much so that others have labeled it as the Chinese Democracy of thrash. If Chinese Democracy showed anything, it is that these long gaps of time do not tend to help sales or critical acclaim. Busted, Broke & American has good instrumentals, for what it is worth. In fact, a track like “Fight” has high energy, hardcore-style guitars, impressive drums and fun bass riffs. Milano’s vocals resemble a southern metal that shadows that of Pantera. “All Out of Bubblegum” is a fast-paced instrumental track with a trailblazing guitar solo, and “Go Go Revolution” surprises listeners with a xylophone-sounding instrument playing over the second half of the track.

However, the downfall of this album is the lyricism. It is not even the conservative or, at times, offensive aspect that will turn fans away, but just the simplicity of these lyrics. Rarely does a song’s lyricism on Busted, Broke & America have an enthralling story to tell. Rather, tracks like “You’re A Fucking Dick” repeat the same sentiment of, “You’re a fucking dick / a fucking crying little bitch / you know you make me sick.” Lines like these show how simple the lyrics and rhymes are, perhaps appealing to edgy twelve-year-olds and Limp Bizkit defenders. “Busted, Broke & American” follows this trend by calling an enemy who works at Starbucks a “Frappuccino fucking asshole.” These lines are so tongue-and-cheek that they raise the question as to why these songs were the two singles that the album advertised. As noted before, there are positives on this record, but the lyrics on these two tracks are certainly among its more negative points.

Busted, Broke & American is instrumentally an enjoyable record. The production allows for a classic, hardcore punk style of fast-paced guitars and hard-hitting drums. The lyrics, however, are stereotypically simple. They are what metal fans hope nobody will hear and look down further on the genre. It really is such a significant contrast in quality between the instruments and lyrics that it is truly hard to pinpoint whether the record is enjoyable or not. Yet, the instrumentals are some of the band’s best and that, in and of itself, is noteworthy. At the least, you can say that M.O.D. have put out some shining points here after the long hiatus.