Live Review: Municipal Waste, Malakyte, The Scam

It's been seven years since Richmond, Virginia's Municipal Waste have killed it on Australian shores. Seven long years in which a lot of things have changed, like the popularity of the thrash revival has peaked and passed. But the Waste have emerged from their movement as its Darwinian survivors, and tonight they're ready to prove to Brisbane crowds that what doesn't kill you only makes you thrash harder.

With a nod to the headliner's crossover proclivities, local openers The Scam take to the stage with a set of furious punk rock. Delivered with speed and precision, without speed or precision sounding like much of a concern for the three-piece, the band's crusty set is a winner. It also keeps things short and sweet, which seems to suit a crowd more focused on getting a beer buzz on.

Malakyte don't play like your average support band; there's none of the regular, 'Hey, are you guys ready to see tonight's headliner', or 'We're so grateful for the headliners for putting us on the bill'. Instead, the five piece play like they should be onstage, and they should, which means that the crowd responds with a hell of a lot more than the polite indifference generally afforded to the support band. Malakyte have obviously studied their '70s and '80s metal and have honed their own brand of slick, thrashy/speedy metal from their influences. The tunes hit home tonight because the guys hit them with near-boundless energy – they're jumping around, indulging in old world metal stage theatrics and shredding out solo after solo. By the time they're done, the crowd is officially warmed up.

Four men, four bandanas, zero shirt sleeves. If you were unsure whether or not it was the case, Municipal Waste come out and immediately let you know that they're way more thrash than you. Driven by the back-beat of man/drum machine Dave Witte, the four-piece kills it as they venture back throughout their discography. The Thrashin' Of The Christ, Terror Shark – helpfully prefaced by a note that “this is a song about a shark” – I Want To Kill The President and Wolves Of Chernobyl all sound like note perfect replications of their recorded counterpart, except now there's Tony Foresta jumping around, getting in the crowd's face, and Ryan Waste's pointy as hell and amazingly awesome custom guitar to make everything so much cooler. The Hi-Fi becomes a sea of hair as heads thrash back and forth and stage divers dive, flip and crash land into the first few rows, especially as the band hit The Art Of Partying material, at which point it becomes evident that Municipal Waste are gonna, and do, fuck us all up. And it's actually kind of brilliant.