REVIEW: Municipal Waste – Napalm Death – Sick Of It All: Live at Worcester Palladium


We were back at the Worcester Palladium for the massive fall tour co-headline tour of Municipal Waste and Napalm Death, with Sick Of It All and Take Offense as support! The venue had been home to the annual Rock and Shock all weekend, “3 days of Metal and Horror”. The weekend had already seen the likes of Korpiklanni, Eluveitie, Revocation, with locals like Vivisepulture, and Ice Giant (Day 1) and Day 2 was dominated by the folks over at Psychopathic Records with the Insane Clown Posse and all their friends as well, with a few local bands opening on the second stage upstairs.

By the time I got to the good ol’ Palladium, the first local band was just finishing up. But from I gathered by people at the show, they put on a solid performance. The first band that I saw in full were local titans of metal, Graviton. Taylor, Cam, Yoav, and Anthony are some of the nicest dudes around and have been my favorite local band for a long while now and this performance showed why. Taylor has some of the most elastic vocal chords in the Massachusetts Metal Scene, Cam is a one-man riff factory, Yoav is the modern-day incarnation of an extreme thrash metal version of Frank Bello, and I’m still convinced that Anthony isn’t even a fucking human being with the way he drums. Their album Per Erebus Ad Astra has been out for some time now, but these guys aren’t coasting on that album, they’re currently working on a new album that I’m very excited about.

Sadly, due to my camera having some sort of issue going on internally and me having to run back to my car to repair the issue, I missed Take Offense opening up the main stage. I could hear them, for sure, I thoroughly enjoyed how they sounded. Just a shame that my camera had to malfunction as they were playing.

Once I finally got my camera up and running again, and I made my way back into the Palladium, I was created by one of my favorite hardcore bands of all time… Sick Of It All! Exploding on to the stage in a fashion that only the New York City legends could, they bulldozed their way through in an extensive setlist that really made my pissed off high school soul scream with joy. I was reliving memories in my head of seeing them back in 2013 at NEMHF alongside Suicidal Tendencies. The set culminated with singer, Lou Koller, jumping into the mosh pit and performing the final song amongst the pit swirling around him. It’s moments like this that make me remember why I fucking love this band!

Next up was the co-headliner of this tour, grindcore pioneers, Napalm Death! I’ve never had the chance to see this band live until this tour, and I was very much looking forward to it. As this band has always been one that has piqued my interest. Coming on stage in a quick and nimble fashion, made all the more impressive by the fact that vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway was on a crutch with an ankle injury that he got while on tour. In between songs Barney would talk about how the world needs to be a place where every human just simply loves every other human and not be divided in any way from the ‘Powers That Be’ a.k.a. Politics and the Trump administration in particular. Steamrolling through a massive setlist of 21 songs, these guys didn’t let up at any point.

Richmond Virginia’s own Municipal Waste broght the night to the close. Touring in support of their new EP, The Last Rager, the boys exploded onto the stage in a way that makes you want to smash a beer can on your head and chug it down while banging your head until your neck is numb. Tony and the rest of the municipal crew Wasted no time jumping into a long stretched how setlist of classics and a few newer songs as well. Riffs, crowd chants, beer, sweat! The night ended of course with “Born To Party!” with their calling card chant… “Municipal Waste is gonna FUCK YOU UP!!”

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY CHRIS SMALL