Monotonous, therapeutic journaling
This album seems like it may have been written with an Electrified Brain as it lacks musical variety and is set to too many short, 3-minute or less bursts. While its lyrics illustrating stories of distress and decision are well-written, overall, the punk elements start to come off as whiny. The members of Municipal Waste are clearly superb musicians with boundless energy and exemplary shredding technique, but this album is too much of the same concept to be considered a truly enjoyable listen all the way through.
“Electrified Brain” introduces the album with a soundscape of just that, a machine powering up followed by electrons charging as they zip back and forth on a wire, before jumping into an accelerated prelude that initiates a thrash mood featuring an unwavering snares-off backbeat. The opening line “Condemned to the chair / But that will never stop / The resurrected force that the ripper couldn’t drop” begins the retributive tale of a falsely accused criminal, who suffered death by electric chair, coming back from beyond the grave to validate his sentencing by murdering the true killer. Once this zombie true crime podcast concludes, there is a marked shift in the music that celebrates his victory. Whereas the before was more of a hang-on-to-your seat thrilling chase with a punk feel, the outro has more of a chummy hard rock energy, akin to an instrumental version of ACDC’s “Thunderstruck.”
A music video for the track “Last Crawl” essentially writes itself as the lyrics share the inside story of an alcoholic’s mind as he fights through another reluctant session of destructive carousing. The lyrics “Accidental bender, I just won’t surrender / I’ll just have to go harder” truly shows just how deep in the hole this character is and the repeated outro exemplifies the way they are trapped in this disease.
In another sordid diary entry about the chaos incited by raging alcoholism, the track “Ten Cent Beer Night” ends with the iconic opening musical phrase of Scorpions’ “Rock You Like A Hurricane,” a fitting description of a night of destruction exacerbated by “Knife-wielding, chair-tossing drunks / Stumbling, stoked, fist-swinging punks.”
While most of the tracks on this album pass by without much impact, there are a few that throw small surprises to the listener. The song “Barreled Rage,” which also mentions alcoholism with the lyrics “Hideous gravity, ABV achieved,” features a tiny glimpse of musical variation with dueling guitar lines, a fantastic guitar solo and a descending chromatic chant to close out the song.
“High Speed Steel” could be marked as a standout track as it begins and continuously features quick, carpel tunnel producing power strumming and reverb-backed chants. Lead singer Tony Foresta also experiments with lyrics in lower vocal ranges and there is a brief, but innovative line where the guitar plays what sounds like a horse whinny sound effect.
The track “Crank the Heat” begins with a call to chaos recited in Spanish, “Que el infierno se desate ya,” translating to “let hell break loose now” as well as an awesome set feature by drummer Dave Witte. This song could definitely incite a riot and not get them invited back to a venue.
If the pure, old-school, unfaltering thrash style of Municipal Waste is something one finds enjoyable, they have found the holy grail in Electrified Brain. However, for anyone seeking variation and not just anxiety-producing background music that sounds like listening in on a stranger’s therapy session, Electrified Brain is not where it’s at.
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