UMUR "Waste 'em All" is the debut full-length studio album by US crossover thrash metal act Municipal Waste. The album was released through Six Weeks Records in 2003. Municipal Waste were formed in Richmond, Virginia in 2001, and are one of the most prolific acts in the revival of crossover thrash metal in first 10 years of the new millenium. "Waste 'em All" put them on the map, but it wasn´t really until they released their second full-length studio album "Hazardous Mutation (2005)" through Earache Records that things seriously started rolling.

I´m pretty sure that´s a matter of better label support and distribution, because there´s nothing wrong with the quality of the material on "Waste 'em All". This is killer crossover thrash metal delivered with great energy and aggression. Think a combination of early Nuclear Assault and S.O.D. and you´re halfway there. This is very much a "to the point" release with it´s 16 tracks and 17:37 minutes playing time, but there is not a wasted second on this release. No filler material, only fast-paced high energy crossover thrash metal from start to finnish.

These guys are just out to have fun and don´t take themselves too seriously, which song titles like "Drunk as Shit", "I Want to Kill the President" and "Thrash?! Don't Mind If I Do" show pretty well. Most tracks are around 1 minutes long, but the band still manage to put in tempo changes and other little details to make the tracks more varied than initial listens might suggest. Sure this is not complex music, but it´s incredibly well played and the vocalist is raw and aggressive and has a bad ass attitude to his delivery. All in all it´s a really intense album and the beer/zombie type lyrics are also entertaining and suit the music well.

Municipal Waste are not a very original sounding band, but that´s not really the point here. They just play what they enjoy playing and at the same time honour their influences. Now if they had sounded like a second tier clone of one particular crossover thrash metal act from the 80s, the story might have been different, but as it is on "Waste 'em All", Municipal Waste manage to mix all the best ingredients from the genre into something that´s greatly enjoyable to listen to. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.