Most recently Sr. Director of A&R at Roadrunner Records, Mike Gitter has signed and worked with bands including Opeth, Megadeth, Killswitch Engage and Bad Religion. Every now and then, he dives into the stacks of CDs he gets and reviews one. This is one of those times.

Municipal Waste – Massive Aggressive (Earache)
I wouldn’t exactly say the party’s over but it feels like the Virginia bunch for whom DRI are Led Zeppelin are onto more “serious” terrain with their fourth album – as serious as you can get when the album’s best track is the insanely catchy “Mech-Cannibal” and the band is Municipal Waste. Sure,  Massive Aggressive may not be the work of a bunch of circle-dancing Belushis but don’t think Tony Foresta’s beer-bonging crew are going for any kind of introspection here either (See The Ramones “so dumb it’s smart” school of rock poetics). They’re  just pushing  things more towards the hardcore side of the fence with the likes of “Wolves of Chernobyl” or “Media Skeptic”. Even producer Zeuss forgoes today’s sample-heavy production for the sound of the days when drums sounded like drums and the kids only cared ‘bout the mosh.  Yes, they’ve given a bunch of 18 year olds a reason to wear bullet belts and high-top white Rebooks. In today’s thrash revival, Da’  Waste are still top of the dude chain.