Black Sunday: Municipal Waste / Toxic Holocaust - Toxic Waste (2012)

Fully aware of the irony in a Black Sunday post that has only clear and colored elements, I cannot resist the urge to write up what may be the finest team-up in the history of split releases, Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust's 12" EP, Toxic Waste, from Tankcrimes. As I missed out on the first pressing of glow-in-the-dark and picture disc variations, I took no chances with the second pressing and bought one each of the striped (200) and "toxic spill" (350) versions (and, yeah, the third choice, highlighter yellow (450), is currently haunting my cart). With the pair promptly delivered earlier this week, my record collection has grown all the more colorful.

Had I been forced to choose only one at the outset, I would have opted for "toxic spill." I'm glad I didn't, frankly, as the striped version is by far my favorite. I also recently received a copy of Cannabis Corpse's The Weeding EP in a "loogy" variation very similar to "toxic spill" and, while it's simply a matter of semantics, the same aesthetic seems to apply much, much better to the mucus mindset. Additionally, the green, yellow and blue in the striped edition complement Andrei Bouzikov's outrageously perfect cover artwork very, very well. And, speaking of complementary relationships, Municipal Waste and Toxic Holocaust provide an absolutely screamingly good pairing - from the sounds blasting from the speakers to the simple, sublime juxtaposition that makes up the title - that I wonder why no one thought of this before now.

Toxic Waste sounds fantastic and is over way too quickly. The 12" format gives a great palette for artwork and fun color variations and it's a little disarming when you realize it all contains only eight minutes of music. At $10.99 each you really are paying for the fondle/fetish factor. The label and artists have generously posted the full audio contents for free download on the Tankcrimes site so no one solely interested in the sounds has any right to complain.




Toxic Waste is a stellar collectible, an incredible collaboration and an all-out fun offering that has, almost instantly, made Tankcrimes (a site I was initially introduced to when they began carrying Dismemberment's Denied Salvation EP) my online destination of choice over the last few weeks. I've been scouring their inventory for bands and albums to sample and, with a great online interface, quick delivery (with great packaging and all sorts of stickery swag) and, above all, quality product, it is safe to say I'll be sending them plenty of cash in the weeks and months to come.