Nuclear Assault

3rd World Genocide

Screaming Ferret Records 2005

Nuclear Assault was my favorite thrash band for quite awhile in the late 80s and early 90s and their Handle with Care tour with Testament and Savatage was my first real metal concert.  Man I have some great memories of these guys.  Also I guess we have come full circle because I saw them live earlier this year at the Underworld in London touring in promotion of this album.  They were tight and played all the great classics.  But I guess none of this really tells you about this album.  I am sure what you want to know is how this album compares to their earlier catalog and what has time done to these metal stalwarts.  The answer to these important questions is fairly well and taken off a little of the edge.  heh heh.  This is their best album since Handle with Care far surpassing Something Wicked and Out of Order.  But it is not up there with their top albums either.  There are certainly memorable songs like Price of Freedom and Living Hell but a lot of their songs are more groove oriented and the speed is certainly been put on the back burner as compared to their earlier efforts.  I know you are supposed to judge a band on their current outputs but with a band like Nuclear Assault their present is overshadowed by their past.  Also there are a lot of silly songs such as Whine and Cheese and Long Haired Asshole.  This is fine by me though as they have always had this side to their music with stuff like Hang the Pope.  John Connelly's vocals are not quite as forceful as his past self but he still has that unique high-pitched yell that is unmistakable.  The one thing that somewhat annoys me is how the drums are in the mix.  I mean with the beats they are usually using that snare can sound so sharp and the cymbal sometimes has too much hiss to it.  But this is a minor grievance.  This may not be up their with their classics but it is still a pretty good thrash album.  Hopefully they will continue to progress on future endeavors.