Raging for life, bro

There’s nothing wrong with a party and a circle pit. That type of energy—rife with rowdiness and a general “we don’t give a fuck”-ness—is one typical of crossover thrash and specifically, Municipal Waste. As considerable experts in the field, the Virginia group knows the worth of hasty riffs paired with fairly simple song structures. Slime and Punishment was a strong note of thrash full length back in 2017, but the short track runtimes left more to be desired, in a good way. Hence the creation of their latest release, The Last Rager EP.

Don’t let the name fool you—it doesn’t seem like Municipal Waste will be going anywhere anytime soon (though the band members’ numerous other projects like Iron Reagan and Cannibal Corpse could surely take up potential Waste release space). Instead, the title kind of plays more into the energy of the EP. Waste has always been effective in blending in lyrical humor with the fast-paced notions of crossover thrash and The Last Rager is no different. If anything, it shows that they’ve still got a lot of life in them, and they communicate it all with four songs in about 10 minutes.

“Wave Of Death” kicks off the EP with a nearly insatiable two-step beat. It’s almost entirely an instrumental track if not for somewhat random bursts of chants. It’s kind of like the preamble to the party mood—one that entices the beginnings of a circle pit. That’s where “Car-Nivore (Street Meat)” comes into to really drive that feeling home. Tony Foresta can really shout fast and his more than rapid delivery is only amplified with David Witte’s drumming and particularly crazy bass lines from Landphil Hall. A drunk play on words comes from “Rum For Your Life,” which keeps that same energy. Ryan Waste and Nick “Nikropolis” Poulos introduce some quite catchy riffs that end up being some of the highlights on the EP as a whole.

Ending on a classic Waste-sounding title track, The Last Rager definitely makes its statement quickly and unapologetically. It calls back to the early career Waste we all know and love but does it in a way that’s still relevant for the type of fast metal we need today.