Municipal Waste, Toxic Holocaust, Enforcer & Skeletal Remains, The Asylum, Birmingham
With the year coming to an end and the last tours hitting the UK for 2019, a few of us headed up to the homeland of heavy metal the Midlands for a couple of thrashtastic shows, the first of which was in the birthplace of metal, Birmingham. Hosting this gig was the fantastic venue The Asylum which I had never been to before and it was a cracking place with great sound and clear views. We managed to get a good vantage point by the bar and were treated to four fantastic bands which although each slightly different in style all complimented each other well. Each band I would have quite happily paid to see headlining their own shows so to get all four on one bill was brilliant and applause must go to the booking agents who put together this fantastic tour.
With it being a Tuesday night, the venue was only slightly full when Skeletal Remains (8) hit the stage. These Californian death thrashers only had a short set so wasted no time in absolutely pummelling the audience with a mix of crushing thrash and brutal Florida style death metal. Bone fracturing heavy renditions of songs such as Devouring Mortality and Internal Detestation warmed the audience up for the continual onslaught to come.
Next up were Enforcer (9) who whilst being based in more traditional heavy metal played with enough speed, ferocity and aggression that no one could say that they did not belong there. A few of the hardcore thrashers did not look too impressed but most of the crowd were absolutely loving it with the Swedish band’s trad metal on speed style. The only new song played was Die With The Devil but the rest of the set was made up of the older and faster songs such as Undying Evil, Mesmerised By Fire and Take Me Out Of This Nightmare. I have been a fan of Enforcer for many years and this was my first time seeing them live and I absolutely loved every second of it. According to my mates I was with I had a shit eating grin on my face for the entire set.
With the crowd loosened up and with a good quantity of booze down their necks the intensity kicked up a notch for the main support Toxic Holocaust (9), whose blunt and crust punk influenced style of thrash got the crowd moving and the circle pit erupting. Despite being a three-piece, Toxic Holocaust play with a ridiculous amount of volume and intensity and their set was riff after riff and riff with my neck threatening to give out part way through their set. The set was mainly made up of older material with cuts such as Nuke The Cross, The Lord Of The Wasteland, Acid Fuzz, Bitch and War Is Hell ensuring there were some sore necks the next morning.
Bringing the night to a close and the intensity and craziness to a ridiculous level were party thrashers Municipal Waste (9). It’s safe to say that as soon as they hit the stage the crowd absolutely erupted, and it took less than 30 seconds for the first crowd surfers to come flying over the barrier. People were climbing on top of the bar and flying off, the circle pit did not stop until the band finished and a guy even walked into the middle of it with a waste bin at some point. It’s no surprise that things got crazy as Municipal Waste are a feral force of energy live and that energy feeds directly into the crowd. Hell, even my old arse dived into the pit for a short while. The band opened with Unleash The Bastards and it was nonstop from there on with You’re Cut Off, Beer Pressure, Headbanger Face Rip, Breathe Grease, Wrong Answer, Sadistic Magician and Born To Party amongst others. It was also nice to hear Substitute Creature off the bands mostly forgotten debut Waste‘Em All. The band put in such a ridiculously tight performance even though they did not keep still on stage at all. I’ve only ever previously seen Municipal Waste at big outdoor festival shows so to see them in a small sweaty venue was amazing as the arena is where they truly shine.
All in all, this was one of the best shows I’ve been to this year. Every single band smashed it and the energy and intensity made this show such ridiculous fun. Thrash is certainly still king.
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