Up next on the chopping block is a band that I feel gets overlooked. They’re a thrash band from New York and the band on the chopping block is Nuclear Assault. So with that let’s take a look……..
Game Over- there’s almost sort of a punk tone to this album. Like for an album that came out in the mid 80s, it has a very raw sound to it. It’s fast. The songs are short and you can definitely tell that this is their debut album. It’s a good debut album, but it’s one of those albums that if it got re-recorded it would probably sound better. I’m gonna give this one an 8/10.
Standouts: Radiation Sickness, Sin, Nuclear War
Survive- like with most sophomore thrash albums from the 80s, this one definitely feels more cohesive and dialed in. The band seems tighter and it seems like it’s a bit more focused. Definitely a step up from the previous album and I’m gonna go ahead and give it 8.5/10.
Standouts: Fight To Be Free, Survive, Brainwashed
Handle With Care- if there’s one album by the band that I would recommend as a starting point it would be this album. To me this is Nuclear Assault at their best. Their dialed in the songs are more structured and overall this is like their quintessential album. This album has the song Critical Mass and if you haven’t seen the video for I definitely recommend looking it up. I’m gonna give this album 10/10.
Standouts: New Song, Surgery, F*(Wake Up)
Out Of Order- up until now, their albums have been more on the crossover side of things. This one I would slow things down a bit, and it almost has a groove metal feel to it. It’s a little different from their previous albums, but I gotta give them props for trying something new. You also gotta figure that this came out in the early 90s so groove metal was kind of popular because that was the heyday of bands like Pantera. Either way a little bit of a departure from what we’ve heard before, but still an album worth listening to. I’ll give this one 8/10.
Standouts: Too Young To Die, Doctor Butcher, Resurrection
Something Wicked- OK so if the last album kind of teased a slower album, this one definitely is their slowest one yet. There is someone that would say this is a groove metal album and to a certain degree it is, but it’s also a very 90s sounding album. In fact, I would say it’s more of a 90s sounding album than it is a thrash album. Again, I’m gonna give them props for trying something new but this one just didn’t stick with me. I’m gonna give this one 7/10.
Standouts: Chaos, No Time, Something Wicked
Third World Genocide- so I know this one came out after a really long gap and it actually seems to pick up where the last album left off. I know that this one came out in like 2005 and the last one came out in 1992 but honestly, you really can’t tell that there was a long gap. It’s a good album and there is more thrashiness to this one than the previous album. I’d say it’s a step up from the previous album and this is their last album before they broke up. I wouldn’t exactly say they went out with a bang, but they didn’t exactly go out with a whimper on this one. I’ll give it 8/10.
Standouts: Whine And Cheese, Fractured Minds, Price Of Freedom
I feel like this is one of those bands that gets overlooked when talked about thrash metal bands. Sure you have the big six but you know bands like Overkill also get brought up in conversation, but this band not as much. It really is too bad that they broke up because some of the live albums that I’ve heard they sounded pretty good and I’ll bet that they were very entertaining.
Album Rankings:
- Handle With Care
- Survive
- Game Over
- Out Of Order
- Third World Genocide
- Something Wicked
Sinister Reviews 