Municipal Waste
Support: ChainBreaker, Profaner, Punch Drunk, Rippr’d
Date: Thursday December 29th, 2016
Venue: the Opera House in Toronto, Ontario
T-shirt worn: Celtic Frost “Morbid Tales”

I wasn’t going to go to this show until the last minute. I really wanted to but I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to work. I ended up being put “on call” over the holidays and then I broke my work phone. So maybe I was supposed to go to work?

We got there just as Rippr’d had started up. They played a harmless brand of local thrash that you’re likely to forget by the end of the evening. There was nothing wrong with them.

The next band Punch Drunk hailed from Oshawa, Ontario. I give them extra points for being able to say that in public. They weren’t entirely bad. They reminded me of D.R.I. Their singer was extremely drunk and that made watching them perform more entertaining. My only real problem with them was the singer thanked the lighting guy who had never heard of them for going so apeshit with the light show. That provoked the lighting guy into doing something I think he thought was good and it was a problem that plagued most of the show: he went fucking nuts with the lights.

Profaner were really not good. They reminded me of Exmortus but way grittier and grimier. The real problem though was that their songs were way too long. I think most of them were well over six minutes and they ended up playing four or five songs in thirty-five minutes. I don’t mind long songs but this was a night more catering to short and fast. The light show for their set was brutal too. It was like watching Motely Crüe or Rammstien.

ChainBreaker played a very sleazy brand of metal. I don’t listen to W.A.S.P. but I’d imagine that ChainBreaker were very akin to them in their heyday. But mixed with Nashville Pussy. They were pretty terrible. But I really enjoyed them because their singer looked almost exactly like Steven Ogg, famous for his portrayal of Trevor in Grand Theft Auto V and currently playing Negans one henchman “Simon” on the Walking Dead. I couldn’t get over that visual their entire set. It really was the type of band that Trevor would front.

All these bands had mentioned song titles here and there but I wasn't really to worried about copying any down.

So all the opening bands had pretty much sucked but Municipal Waste laid waste to them all. I haven’t seen them live since the tour with At The Gates in 2009. In the years since I listened to them a bit but never overdid it. I think I got the Art of Partying shortly after the At The Gates show and I got Hazardous Mutation a few Christmas’ later. So the songs from those albums have been popping up here and there on iTunes for years. And it was really nice to hear a lot of those familiar songs in a live setting.

But that sounds too nice.

This was probably the craziest show I’ve seen at the Opera House. Maybe even ever anywhere. I’ve seen more violent pits with people getting hurt and stuff. And I’ve seen shows with more stage divers. But there was an aire of pure drunken sloppiness about this show that made it a million different kinds of fun. I don’t mosh but just watching the siege of bodies falling and jumping all over one another trying to not vomit on one another was a lot of fun. I can’t say that mass of humanity was being careful not to spill it’s beer because I’ve DEFINELTY never been to a show where that many cans of beer were flying all over the venue. It was like a house party in a mid-sized concert venue.

Thankfully someone must have said something to the lighting guy because the laser show stopped for Municipal Waste. I think it was just basic stage light for them, which was perfect for this show and unfortunate that the other bands didn’t get that. Municipal Waste played great. The have a second guitarist now but I don’t think that’s new news. They seemed to be really appreciative of the crowd and having an awesome time themselves. I really miss them. Iron Reagan is pretty good and I’ve never listened to Cannibas Corpse. It’s too bad those two side projects kinda took over the members focus' the last few years. Because Municipal Waste wastes ‘em all.

Municipal Waste
1. [intro]
2. Unleash the Bastards
3. ?
4. You’re Cut Off
5. ?
6. The Thrashin’ of the Christ
7. Beer Pressure
8. Thrashing’s My Business…and Business is Good
9. The Inebriator
10. Toxic Revolution
11. Black Ice
12. I Want To Kill the President
13. Wrong Answer
14. Terror Shark
15. The Bangover
16. Slime and Punishment
17. Substitute Creature
18. Headbanger Face Rip
19. Sadistic Magician
20. Born to Party
[encore]
21. The Art of Partying



ChainBreakers singer "Simon"