METHOD OF DESTRUCTION (M.O.D.) - Busted, Broke and American

Release date - July 7/17 (Megaforce)

The redoubtable Billy Milano is back with what he claims to be the final M.O.D. (Method Of Destruction) release. He has made a 30-year career out of rubbing peoples’ faces in his politically incorrect views, with no little humour injected to keep everyone further off-balance. This while using a crossover between thrash and hardcore as the musical catalyst for his caterwauling. With this latest however, Milano (who wrote the music as well as the lyrics himself) seems to have veered a slightly off the usual M.O.D. path. There seems to be less humour and more pent up anger in his lyrics, while musically the core leans closer to hardcore punk than running the usual crossover middle ground. This is high quality, bracing brutality that comes closer to Poison Idea territory than Nuclear Assault.

That being said, Busted … also contains some (gasp) intermittent melody a la melodic punk, including the use of ‘whoa-o-o’ chants in a few places. Don’t be scared away though, Milano still lets loose shredding his vocal chords with his latest admonishments (book ended by voice clips of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy warning of potential loss of freedom and free speech). Very topical indeed. When the smoke clears, this release ends up being the most consistent effort since the USA For MOD debut 30 long years ago. Kudos to Milano for going out on such a high if this indeed ends up being their swansong.

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