…or better known as what happens when a couple of Municipal Waste lads fancy making a full-on thrash album.
Guitarists Ryan Waste and Nick Poulos have basically nailed slightly knockabout Speed Metal (and they’re ace at it, too) so they wanted to explore. Back in 2021 they recruited drummer Chris Marshall, decamped to Philadelphia and away we go.
That’s the facts, but the 13 songs that make up “Under The Crooked Claw”, speak for themselves.
“Vampyre Lore” gives you the clearest insight into this dirty old world. This thunders. It would fight you. And it would win.
Waste and Poulos haven’t sounded this grimy and oil-soaked before. They’ve distilled heavy to its bare essentials, so bang your head and get your hi-tops out of the wardrobe to “Rite For Exorcism” which grooves, or “Streetbanger” which shreds, or “Warshock” which would slow down past 90 but can’t see the point.
“Horror Vision” proclaims itself to be an “orgy of gory violence” (as well as being near prog rock on this given its over three and a half minutes long), which battered makes up for by being 140 seconds of smashing you with something hard.
And ok, we’ve not taken this too seriously, but my, it’s superbly done. “Bastardizing Force” is a genuinely superb metal song. Aggressive, heavy, and the sort of thing that makes you buy another patch for your battle jacket, and “Final Strike” does it all one last time.
Waste has coined the term “Primitive heavy speed” for this, which apart from sounding like Friday night at Lemmy’s house, is as good a term as any.
“Under The Crooked Claw” is a gem. Nasty, but a gem nonetheless.
Rating 8.5/10
