When Mr. Bungle released their debut demo in 1986, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, Anthrax and Slayer were signed to major labels and getting played on MTV’s Heavy Metal Mania. The thought of anyone caring about the band a couple years later, let alone nearly 35 years later, likely never crossed 18 year old Mike Patton’s mind. Yet here we are in 2020. Mr. Bungle is back and bigger than ever. Among the ranks of this new iteration is none other than Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian and Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo.
The first offering from Mr. Bungle 2.0 is a re-recording of the very demo that started it all. Before becoming the penultimate impossible to pin down act of the 90s, Mr. Bungle played their own unique brand of raw thrash metal. Some may go as far to label it early death metal. I’ve always considered it super demented crossover. The songs were decent then and are still decent now, but the polished production adds an edge that was previously missing. Usually it’s the other way around.
Not all of the songs are copy/paste renditions. “Hypocrites” segues into “Habla Español O Muere”: a remix of the S.O.D. crossover classic, “Speak English or Die”. If S.O.D. ever wanted to go another round, they could with Mike Patton at the helm, considering Billy Milano is about as reliable as a cheap bandage over a broken bone. And somehow, tracks like “Raping Your Mind” and “Spreading the Thighs of Death” sound even more brutal on here than on the original demo. People (myself included) seem to forget just how devastating those Scott Ian mosh riffs really are.
Wrath includes four brand new songs: three originals and a cover of Corrosion of Conformity’s “Loss for Words”. The first of these original compositions is “Methematics”. This loud, noisy, politically charged crossover thrasher is essentially the marriage of the green faced 80s Mr. Bungle with the spastic avant-garde 90s Mr. Bungle. Following that is “Eracist”. Its mid tempo mosh riffs serve as a nice break from the nonstop total thrash action. Finally, there’s “Glutton for Punishment”. Perhaps the most pissed off track, “Glutton for Punishment” is proof that teen angst can last well into your 50s if cultivated properly.
For a re-recording, The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo is about as good as you can get. It’s got quality thrash metal and really shows off what this unit is capable of doing. I just hope we get an album of all new music from them in the future. It’s been too damn long since my brains have been battered by the double bass attack of Lombardo!
6 out of 10
Label: Ipecac Recordings
Genre: Crossover Thrash
For fans of: Slayer, Anthrax, S.O.D.