Municipal Waste performs at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on March 4, 2024. Sean Liming/STAFF.

BERKELEY —  Weeknight or not, the Brainsqueeze tour rolled into Berkeley on Monday, unleashing a quartet of thrash metal bands at the UC Theatre.

The tour commemorates the 21st anniversary of Waste ‘Em All by headliners Municipal Waste.

Three hours into the madness, vocalist Tony Foresta was feeling the crowd’s energy.

“I mighta drank too much,” he said between songs. “OK, I’m cool. Let’s go fast, fuckers.”

The veteran thrash quintet out of Richmond, Va. launched into “Breathe Grease” as multiple mosh pits opened on the floor.

Municipal Waste performs at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on March 4, 2024.

Toward the end of the headlining set, attendees took to throwing things: empty beer cans, flashing bracelets, beach balls. Occasionally, someone onstage would throw a cardboard box or plastic trash bin back out into the frenetic crowd, which would attack the rock and roll jetsam like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

At one point, a truly enthusiastic stage diver leaped from the balcony. Foresta had the crowd chanting along with the lyrics to “Born to Party,” from 2002 album Crucial Unit: “Municipal Waste is gonna fuck you up!” It was that kind of night.

Foresta’s energy was matched by the band’s two guitar players, rhythm guitarist and founding member Ryan Waste and lead guitarist Nick “Nikropolis” Poulos, who moved between face-melting solos and pummeling power chords with preternatural precision.

Ghoul, who preceded the headliners, brought out a number of costumed characters, including a leather-clad and caped soldier who sprayed the audience with an indeterminate liquid. A giant green muppet-like character resembling a slime ball repeatedly tried to eat the band’s bassist, Cremator.

Ghoul performs at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on March 4, 2024.

Easily the evening’s most chaotic musical act, Ghoul’s galloping thrash metal felt at times like free jazz or a giant machine exploding. Drummer Fermentor’s double-kick precision provided a musical skeleton that guitarists Digestor and Dissector animated with their relentless shredding.

“As you die, you will look into my eye as the casket closes!” masked bassist Cremator screamed while introducing “As Your Casket Closes,” off 2002 album Splatterthrash. But as is the case with lots of art, the cartoonish evil began to feel almost… funny. Carl Jung called the manifesting of opposites in art “enantiodromia.”

Much of the night was a pitched battle between fans and security.

“See these security guys? Make ’em work! Get on stage if you can. This is our last song!” said Luca Indrio, bassist for Necrot, earlier int he evening.

Necrot performs at The UC Theatre in Berkeley, Calif. on March 4, 2024.

While Indrio’s incitement spurred additional crowd-surfing, security seemed to win the round as none of the surfers were able to mount the stage. Over the course of the evening, a number of attendees were deposited behind the barricade between the stage and the crowd, sometimes by security and sometimes by the crowd. A phalanx of additional security guards headed toward the stage during Necrot’s incendiary set.

Oxnard’s Dead Heat kicked the evening off with a powerful set including “Smite Thee,” from 2023 album Endless Torment. Vocalist Chris Ramos worked to get the crowd moving.

“What are you doing standing there?” he asked someone before band launched into “The Fall,” 2021’s World At War. “I wanna see all you motherfuckers head-banging!”

All in all, attendees at this show had to work for their enjoyment of four hours of grisly subject matter blasted at them at jet engine-level decibels.

Follow photographer Sean Liming at Instagram.com/S.Liming.