18th November 2020

Under The Influence #73: Cuttermess on “Hazardous Mutation” by Municipal Waste!

“We just party, and we just thrash. Someone else put that together” ~ Ryan Waste

Municipal Waste have come a long way since making their live debut at New Year’s Eve Keg Party nineteen years ago. From those humble beginnings in Richmond Virginia they’ve gone Global with six albums, four EPs and four split records. Not a band haul for a band who basically write about booze, mutants and thrash metal while injecting a healthy dose of comedy. 2005 saw the arrival of the bands second album, the first to be produced by guitarist Nick Poulos, a fifteen track, twenty six minute, short, fast rager influenced by the likes of Slayer, Meanacer, Cannibal Corpse and Forbidden with cover artwork from the legend that is Ed Repka (Megadeth, Nuclear Assault).

Cuttermess comment: “Our drummer and songwriter Bert has been in a lot of bands. He’s played thrash metal, punk rock, death metal, hardcore and even hard rock. Over the years, he never had the chance to contribute any of his musical preferences to his previous groups, but it did shape him. So when we formed Cuttermess, he could finally let loose the multitude of styles that he kept for himself.

If there is one band that kind of does something similar, I would have to say Municipal Waste. Apart from being a metal singer and metalhead, I am also a volunteer metal journalist. One time I got the chance to do an interview with Tony and Ryan. They told me the exact same story as ours: they’ve played in punk bands, they’ve played in thrash bands and in Municipal Waste they successfully unify the both.

At that time, Hazardous Mutation was their current album. Teeming with energy, it is almost impossible for any metalhead not to dig this whirlwind of speedy riffs, dynamic mid tempo grooves and fast paced vocals. When I first saw them live at Wacken (2006 I think), the audience completely went nuts. The band radiated energy and interacted with the crowd by doing beer bongs with them, giving them challenges, telling jokes and that kind of stuff. There I saw that you do not need to be the most original band nor have an impressive stage show to make a big impression on a crowd.

Now, I’m not saying we are at their level. Not even close. Our cross-over metal mix is a lot different from theirs, as we also throw some death metal, hardcore and yes even doom metal into the blender. But what we do have in common, is that we unify a lot of styles, unleash a lot of energy live and on record and try to have that connection with the audience.

In our experience, that is what metal is all about: using music as a common ground to unite and have a few beers along the way. Hazardous Mutation is one of those records you can play anywhere anytime. Everybody who likes metal – no matter which sub genre – will have a good time with it. We hope to make an album like that someday.“