You know the old idiom, “you can’t judge a book by its cover”? Yeah, well, it’s nonsense. Just take one quick look at the cover to The Last Rager (Nuclear Blast), the new EP from Virginian beermonsters Municipal Waste and judge to your heart’s content.

1980s Style artwork featuring heads on spikes, a burning skeleton, a barrel of leaking toxic waste, and a zombie in a radiation suit guzzling beer and giving the finger tells you everything you need to know about this short, but highly thrashmungous stopgap release.

The mid-paced neckfuckery of ‘Wave of Death’ kicks things off, it’s semi-instrumental lyrical minimalism acting as an alcohol stained springboard for high-speed thrasher ‘Car Nivore (Street Meat)’. ‘Rum For Your Life’ steps on the accelerator even harder, smashing into walls and swerving into old ladies before the title track closes out the EP with another violent explosion of headbanging fury.

Bearing all the hallmarks of a typical MW release – a blasting rhythm section, razor-sharp riffs, and a lightning-fast vocal delivery from shouty frontman Tony Foresta – The Last Rager may only be a short release, but it’s a contagious little beast you’ll want to stick on repeat until it’s time to go out and get drunk. For best results, ingest several times daily and consume with moshpits and alcohol.

7 / 10

GARY ALCOCK