If you are reading this you should continue if you want to know sometihng of this almost great album from New York's speed/thrash-metal band ¨Nuclear Assault¨. This band is know for combining both hardcore influences and classic thrash-metal, the band has also one of thrash-metals few unusual vocalists whom I'm going to describe later in this review. ¨Nuclear Assault¨ was created by the former bassist Danny Lilker from ¨Anthrax¨, he jumped of to from a band that was more aggressive in its music and thats how it started. There was a hugh gap between the ¨Alive Again¨-album and there newest album ¨Third World Genocide¨ and that gap was almost ten years long. ¨Nuclear Assault¨ was one of few bands that were socially aware about this, based on their lyrics they sing about the problems in the world such as, freedom, security and the man himself/herself, how you should act and stuff like that.
¨Third World Genocide¨ contains thirteen tracks which sounds very similar to their early style of music, the songs here is a bit more thrash-metallish from my part and they sound very good. The songs are both slow and fast, the classic thrash-drumming is included, there are many sorts of riffs/shredds but most of them are pretty simplistic and are not so technical or complexive. The guitars are very heavy on this album if you compared them to their earlier recordings, the bass here is great because you can hear it in every song (almost everyone), and the vocals of course are the same but the vocals here is a more ¨tuned¨ compared to how Connelly have been singing in the past. His voice is more directed to hardcore and his vocals are quite yell, I think that many people would reject this singer because of his vocals but I think that his voice is pretty cool.
The band members are four persons, John Connelly on the guitars and vocals, the second guitarist of the band is Erik Burke. And then we have Danny Lilker on the bass, he has played in many bands such as ¨Anthrax¨, ¨Brutal Truth¨ and ¨The Ravenous¨ for example. And then we have the last member, Glenn Evans on the drums. John, Danny and Glenn are the same members that the band had when they first started (except for some line-up changes in the past).
I hope you are willing to read this because I'm going try to write somethin about every song but I will try to make a short section. The title song starts off with song odd sound effect and later some heavy drumbeats and basslines kicks in, the vocals comes in later. The song has the same structure but it is not catchy though, not a good opening song. ¨Price Of Freedom¨ is one of my favorite songs, it is tempo is between medium and fast, the song has catchy, heavy riffs which are quite simplistic. ¨Human Wreckage¨ kicks in with heavy thrash elements such as fast drums and furious riffing, has a pretty good solo but it sounds to high-pitched. ¨Living Hell¨ also starts with very heavy riffiing and a bit calmer drum pattern, the song guitars slows down and the singing starts, the song has also the same structure during the whole song and it is slightly catchy. ¨Whine And Cheese¨ sounds more like a punk-rock song (think Green Day), the song is catchy but it would bore you when you have listen to it a couple of times. The riffing is very simple and the vocals are not the best. ¨Defiled Innocence¨ has also quite heavy riffing but the drums are a bit heavier in this one, the guitar sounds in this song is very cool when you hear them, the song is in a quite moderated pace and the song is a bit catchy. ¨Exoskeletal¨ enters with a heavy intro, the shredds is a bit more technical in this song, the main riff is an up-and-down riff (its the best way I can describe it). The song is not that catchy but it has a great short solo.
And take a deep breath and rest for a few seconds, now you can continue reading, ¨Discharged Reason¨ hammers on with slow drumming and heavy, grinding guitars. The first half of the song is slow and heavy and the other half is more thrashier and intensified, the vocals in the slow part is very annoying and the in the other half it is normal. ¨Fractured Minds¨ starts with strange background sounds until the song gets more serious, the song really rocks because of its fast pace and very catchy rhythm-sections. ¨The Hockey Songs¨ is classic ¨NA¨- filler song, just a few seconds of frantic noise, just nonsense. ¨Eroded Liberty¨ does also have some heavy riffs plus the intensive drumming, this is typical ¨NA¨ material, the song is quite catchy but the some riffs sounds a bit odd though. And now to my absolute favorite of this album, ¨Long Haired A**holes¨ is a COUNTRY song! The song is played with acoustic guitars, banjo, bass I think and drums, the song is very catchy and it really swings. The song is about these two texas ¨farmers¨ that had this argue with these ¨short-haired business-suited people¨, they are the people who are responsible for all the troubles and disasters here in the world. And the last song is ¨Glenn's Song¨, the song starts with slow drumming and sliding riffs, the riffs get very heavy after a while and the vocals here are also quite annoying sometimes. The song is heavy throughout the whole song but it is not so catchy, the guitar solo by the way is very good.
See, it was not that hard wasen't it? I hoped you enjoyed this review and I hope that it was to any help. This is the best ¨Nuclear Assault¨ album I have heard yet, the songs had many typical elements that is classical for ¨NA¨ like the yelling vocals, the fast and simple riffing, the intensive drumming and the loud and clearly hearable basslines by Lilker. The biggest surprise was the country song, it hooked my right away, this band has done previous goofs in the albums before like in the EP ¨The Plague¨. There they play a blues track for example, this is a very smart move from a metal band to experiment with their songs and do something different. Most songs on this album is quite short, most songs is about three to two minutes long but there are also some songs that is a bit longer than that also. I recommend this album to any thrash-metal fan because I think that this band needs to be more recognized.
PROS
+ The songs has a very good lifespan
+ The balance between the instruments is great
+ The production is improved
+ The vocals has not been change, it is still unique
+ There are many songs on this album
CONS
- The vocals may annoy people quite much
- The music has not made any bigger progress
RECOMMENDED TRACKS
-- Price Of Freedom
-- Defiled Innocence
-- Discharged Reason
-- Long Haired A**hole (I just have to recommend it)
The overall album rating will be: 4.5/5
