Nuclear Assault grew out of the dismissal of bass guitarist Danny Lilker from Anthrax, and his decision to not only put together another band, but one that wanted to go in a more aggressive fashion than his previous band was heading. Bringing together John Connolly, Anthony Bramante and Glenn Evans, the band released the EP “Brain Death” before releasing their debut album “Game Over” two months later.
After a touring schedule that saw them support many of the best bands of their genre across the country, the same foursome came together to write and record the follow up album. Prior to this they released a second EP titled “The Plague” which contained a song critical of the decision to allow Vince Neil to escape jail time over the car crash he created that killed Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle. It was the sign of things to come lyrically for the band, with more potent songs taking on issues that they had problems with, and combining it with their increasingly faster and thrashier style of music, heading into extreme territory in their quest to create the sound that would make them stand out from the crowd. The result was something that, for many people, exceeded that successfully.
After the excellence of the first album, the band needed to ramp things up here on their second effort if they wanted to continue to be successful and bring in more fans. And while they had done so in that first album and both of the EP’s, on “Survive” they brought a more topical lyrical content to the songs, along with ramping up the speed and intensity of the tracks.
A number of the songs still deal with the band’s title, and the threat of nuclear war and the aftermath it may bring, but they also tackle current topics, such as in “Fight to be Free” where they take aim at the government over decision making that the ‘young’ (whom I presume they are including themselves in) find to be incoherent. “Great Depression” seems to be a vicious cycle of abuse, but works well for the youthful fans who would have had no trouble at all chanting away the lyrics to offset their dark moments. Still, “Rise from the Ashes” and “Survive” and “Technology” all still harp on the nuclear winter, dark and angry lyrics that lend themselves to the music around them.
Having said all of this, the album finishes off quite strangely with a cover of the Led Zeppelin song “Good Times Bad Times”, which more than anything else highlights the complete difference between what Nuclear Assault write, and then what comes from one of the great classic bands from another era. It is noticeably different, and indeed weakens the end of the album because it is so different. Was it added just to get the album length to 30 minutes? Or did they really think this was a good idea. The first thought seems the more likely.
The music itself is excellent, for those that are fans of thrash metal at its core. It isn’t the mature almost smooth sounding thrash that that age of Metallica was. It was thrash metal at its essence. The influence of Anthrax is still noticeable in some songs and some of the riffs that arise, but this is definitely not a clone album of that description. Anthony Bramante and John Connelly are excellent here, with some of the lead breaks excellent, while the hard core rhythm of Dan Lilker and Glenn Evans is excellent, providing the engine room that drives the album to its peak.
The album tops out at the 30 minute mark, so there is nothing much left in the tank once you get to the end. It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s here for a good time not a long time, notwithstanding the cover song to finish it all off.
No one in my friend group from high school came forth with material from Nuclear Assault at the time this album, or all their albums, were released. More is the pity, because it took me a little over 20 years to finally track down their albums and listen to them. Such was the problem living in Australia, some bands albums were difficult to source, but also you need someone to ‘discover’ them for you as well, and then pass it on, in those days of shared cassettes. So though I knew the band existed, I didn’t hear this album until well into the new century. And from the moment I heard this album and their debut album, I knew I’d missed a trick. Because it is pure 80’s thrash metal, there is no mistaking its place in time. And it is prior to growling vocals and all the other tricks that came later on in the 90’s and 2000’s.
So once I found these two albums, I played them a LOT, and bathed in the glory of the guitars and speed and relatively short songs, with the album almost over before you knew it, so you just had to put it on again because you feared you had missed a couple of tracks.
I really enjoy this album. Danny Lilker’s experience with both Anthrax and then Stormtroopers of Death does shine through in the songs here, but in their own style rather than being a copycat. Beyond this album things appeared to change, but that seemed to be from internal issues and the changing landscape, something most 80’s bands suffered from. But “Survive” stands as a testament to this era of thrash, and even to today retains its freshness in attitude and fun. And if an album can continue to draw out great feelings like that after 35 years, then you know it was done the right way at the time.
