Municipal Waste
w/ Doyle, Toxic Holocaust, and others
November 7th, 2018
The Masquerade (Heaven)
The Speed of the Wizard tour pulled into Atlanta on a cold, rainy night and right off the bat there was a sense of weirdness in the room. Originally billed as a co-headlining tour featuring High on Fire and Municipal Waste, the tides had changed when it was announced that High on Fire lead thing Matt Pike had to drop off the tour because he needed to have a toe cut off. So instead of just leaving it be, the venue decided to combine two shows into one.
Former Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein (dumbest name ever) had a show that same night so what they did was they just combined both shows into one big nasty tasting goulash. The show kicked off with a few generic punk bands that I really couldn’t give two shits about but watched anyways.
Hembree & the Satan Sisters were fun. The singer looked like Danzig with a neck beard and even had a Danzig tramp stamp and head butted some poor fool and busted his own head open. It must be his “thing.” The singer’s banter was amazing and even announced that there was a song about him and his childhood friends used to put playdoh on their dicks and jack off. Classy, right? Of the bands that kicked things off, they were the most tolerable of them.
Die 95 was easily one of the worst bands I have ever seen but they were hilarious. They were taking themselves so seriously. Their Nikki Sixx lookalike bassist kept asking for more bass in monitor so he could better hear the 3 notes he played all night and their singer sang such classic lines as, “I’m the boogie man you fear the most.” The only thing I feared was more music from this band As for Doyle, it was literally just a wall of fucking noise that I just couldn’t even sit through. I wanted to try and count how many times he punched his guitar but I lost track after 30 in just the first song. I exited the building as I just couldn’t take any more and realized very quickly that I was not a Doyle fan.
Finally, the Municipal Waste portion of the show started and kicking things off was Haunt. Now I had never seen Haunt before but my buddy and fellow co-writer Taylor commanded me to check them out. When Taylor speaks, you listen so I did and damn I was so glad. Haunt was an absolute blast to watch live. They had great stage presence, they shred like maniacs, and they really brought the house down with their Judas Priest meets classic Queensryche style of metal. They definitely made an impression on me and this is a band I will be keeping my eyes out for.
Toxic Holocaust. I’ve seen these guys, I think, three times or so at this point and for some reason, they just don’t click with me. They’re great players and put on a high energy show but for some reason I just never feel connected to them. With their crossover thrash/punk sound, they are definitely tight as fuck but again, for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it. Watching them didn’t feel like a waste of time but at the same time, I think would have much rather seen another band on this bill like Savage Master or someone like that. Toxic Holocaust definitely is great at what they do but every time I’ve seen them live I just don’t get much if anything at all out of it.
As Spinal Tap’s “Stonehenge” filled the air, the crowd began to tighten up towards the stage and at this point, it was an impressive crowd. Even with the all the balconies closed off, the floor area was about ¾ full but as always, a Municipal Waste show is more about quality than quantity. The band took to the stage slamming right into “Bourbon Discipline” and without even batting an eye went right into “Sadistic Magician.” The band sounded in top form and was probably the tightest I have heard them to date. With that being said, their stage presence came across as a little bit tired or maybe even hungover. Regardless, it still whipped massive amounts of ass covering such timeless Waste classics as “You’re Cut Off”, “Unleash the Bastards” (always a show highlight), “Terror Shark”, and “Mind Eraser.”
Ryan Waste stepped up to the mic and announced, “This next song is satanic as all fuck.” Municipal Waste delivered the classic “Thrasin’ of the Christ” to a roar from the crowd and easily one of the most fucking insane mosh pits I have seen in ages. The audience was definitely a Waste crowd and the constant build up of the energy in the crowd seemed to liven up the band a more and more. From there, Waste slammed song into song relentlessly and by the time “Born to Party” closed out the show, the band looked absolutely drained as they left the stage to a roaring crowd.
While this may not have been my favorite Municipal Waste show, of the 7 or so times that I have seen them, it was still far better than most bands on their best night. I’ve always wondered how a band like Municipal Waste could put on such a high caliber show every time I saw them so for this show, I feel like I got to see them a little drained and tired. With that being said, seeing Municipal Waste is like pizza: even if it’s not as great as it usually is, it’s still fucking great.
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