Mr. Bungle ‘The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny’  Review: Mike Patton and co. re-embrace their thrash metal roots on their first album in 21 years, which also features Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo.

When Mr. Bungle reunited for their first tour in 20 years, they did the most Mr. Bungle thing they could do. Instead of performing a collection of tracks off their three beloved 90’s studio albums, they decided to play their 1986 cassette demo tape The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny in its entirety, along with some bonus tracks and covers thrown in for good measure.

Given only the most hardcore Bungle fans have actually heard that demo (until recently), it raised some questions as to why they would focus live performances on such an obscure artifact. But when fans heard the group were also recording in the studio, things clicked into place.

The new album is indeed a proper recording of The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny (October 30th via Ipecac Recordings) plus the aforementioned extras, and just as on their tour, the group (vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn and guitarist Trey Spruance) are joined by metal legends Scott Ian of Anthrax on guitar and Dave Lombardo of Slayer on drums. In other words, this is the most metal Mr. Bungle have ever sounded. And that can’t be overstated.

Sure, they have incorporated metal in all three of their prior studio releases, (1991’s Mr. Bungle, 1995’s Disco Volante, and 1999’s California), but it was always distilled into their hallucinatory experimental sonic stew that included elements of everything from ska to carnival music to surf music to avant gard jazz to horror movie scores and all things in-between.

But The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny is a sonic snapshot of a nascent group of teenagers  growing up in a sleepy Californian lumber town, and what their demo proves is they were huge fans of thrash metal, death metal and hardcore punk, and all those influences are in full display.

After the moody, menacing instrumental Grizzly Adams, the band launch into the amazingly titled Anarchy Up Your Anus, which begins with a spoken word intro from Cheers actress Rhea Perlman, doing a great riff on the classic 1979 Disney children’s album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, replete with Patton doing a perfect impression of one of the screaming ghouls in the background, before they go into thrash overdrive.

Raping Your Mind manages to be even more severe, with whiplash inducing drums competing with Patton’s shrieks for most manic element–until a maniacal elastic guitar solo leaps into the mix, sending the whole thing into the stratosphere.

Hypocrites / Habla Español O Muere is another feast for metal ears, combining a hardcore fueled original with a cover of SOD’s Speak English or Die (the thrash super group which also featured Scott Ian), except here it’s entitled Speak Spanish or Die, with a La Cucaracha reference thrown in for good measure.

It is somewhat fascinating to hear an album where Mr. Bungle so faithfully adhere to musical convention. There are no weird esoteric freakouts or any infusion from any other genre, and unlike prior albums Patton eschews any moments of melodic crooning amidst his demonic wails. This makes it unlike any of their prior albums, and may frustrate some listeners who are more used to their ADHD approach to songwriting.

That being said, there are subtle hints of what would come later in the band’s career: Bungle Grind’s manic delivery and unrelenting pace speaks to the band’s technical prowess (and features one beaut of a guitar solo), while the near 9-minute Methemetics brilliantly mixes thrash with Iron Maiden dynamics and a bridge that would later be recycled as the main riff to Love Is A Fist off their 1991 debut.

While this may be a rerecording of an album made in their teens, it doesn’t sound like a group of middle-aged men seeking past glories. Instead it’s a combination of youthful fervor and the type of seasoned musicianship that only comes with age, which makes absolute monsters like the Killing Joke-esque Eracist or the shredding Glutton For Punishment sound like perfectly controlled chaos.

The band’s press release for the new album states quite cheekily that With this new album, the first for the band in 20 years, Mr. Bungle has self-appointed themselves as the final puzzle piece in the pentagonal Big Five.

Thanks to pulverizing numbers like the chugging Spreading The Thighs of Death or the similarly titled and equally punishing Sudden Death, it really doesn’t sound like that much snark or hyperbole. In a parallel universe Mr. Bungle really could have been a major metal band if they had decided to do so.

Mr. Bungle were too wonderfully weird to go down such purist path of course, but The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny is an unrelenting beast, a musical metal exorcism of youthful exuberance that ensures them metal cred for life. And hopefully, paves the way for a future album as well.