NUCLEAR ASSAULT - Alive Again
May 23, 2003, 21 years ago
(SPV)
Nuclear Assault was a New York thrash band with a nasty, hurried edge, a gang of warriors that never gathered the accolades of its big brother Anthrax. Perhaps too turgid and underground to the end, the band faded away three, four years after a choking haze of copycat thrash bands methodically worked toward killing the scene in the late '80s (remember the Under One Flag label? - Nuclear Assault most definitely do). But founding member Danny Lilker (also a big part of Anthrax's monumental first album) has gathered the band together for live dates to "test the waters," the result being this punishing blast of old school Bay area meets hardcore. The sound is quite simply awful (but you get used to it after awhile), and singer/guitarist John Connelly turns in his signature sour vocal melodies, which land him somewhere between Baloff, Souza and David Wayne. Grim, clubby, punishing, fast and past due date... it most definitely makes me glad I wasn't at the show, although there's value to be had in those quick right-handed rhythm guitars and the Benante blast of Glenn Evans on flayed and beaten drum cannons.
