UMUR "Third World Genocide" is the 6th full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Nuclear Assault. The album was released through Screaming Ferret Records/SPV Records in August 2005. It´s the successor to "Something Wicked" from 1993 and features two lineup changes since the predecessor as bassist Scott Metaxas has been replaced by returning original bassist Dan Lilker and guitarist Dave DiPietro has been replaced by Erik Burke. So it´s not only a comeback album after a 12 years long recording break, but also a reunitement of three out of four original members of the band (the two remaining members from the last album are lead vocalist/guitarist John Connelly and drummer Glenn Evans).

While "Something Wicked (1993)" seldom reached excellence and honestly sounded a bit directionless and tired, "Third World Genocide" sounds a bit more like Nuclear Assault actually mean it. Stylistically it´s somewhere between the sound of "Handle With Care (1989)" and "Out of Order (1991)". There´s some of the rawness of the former and some of the slightly more sophisticated songwriting of the latter, but most importantly it sounds like classic Nuclear Assault, with raw thrashy riffs and lyrics dealing with society and social issues but also the occasional silly song (there are actually a few on this album in "Whine and Cheese", "The Hockey Song", and "Long Haired Asshole"). Connelly still has a raw almost screaming delivery and with Lilker´s return the bass has become louder in the soundscape again.

"Third World Genocide" features a raw, powerful, and well sounding production and upon conclusion it´s a quality release and a great comeback album for Nuclear Assault. They delivered exactly what their fans needed at that point, and while it doesn´t quite reach the heights of their best 80s releases, it´s still a great album well worth a purchase. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Something Wicked" is the 5th full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Nuclear Assault. The album was released through I.R.S. Records in February 1993. It´s the successor to "Out of Order" from 1991 and features two lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarist Anthony Bramante has been replaced by Dave DiPietro and bassist Dan Lilker has been replaced by Scott Metaxas. Both were original members, so it´s quite a big lineup change. The remaining part of the lineup are John Connelly (vocals, guitars) and Glenn Evans (drums).

Stylistically Nuclear Assault pretty much continue their signature thrash metal style on "Something Wicked". There are hard edged thrash metal sections, more traditional heavy metal moments, and a good deal of melody too. There´s the rare nod towards crossover thrash too, but those moments are few and far between (an example are some of the sections on "Poetic Justice" and the short "Art"). Connelly has a rather distinct raw and screaming delivery, and is as always one of the greatest assets of the band´s sound. Some of the vocal melodies take some getting used to, and while I wouldn´t call anything on "Something Wicked" experimental, Connelly is obviously not satisfied with just rehashing vocal ideas from past releases. It´s not always a success but at least it´s bold and shows an adventurous spirit.

The musicianship is overall on a high level (new guitarist Dave DiPietro plays some nice blues based guitar solos) and "Something Wicked" is well produced too, but the songwriting is generally not that interesting. The material is not of a bad quality, but very few of the tracks are particularly memorable. It´s not that the band don´t try to vary their tracks by using different songwriting ideas, but the tracks just aren´t catchy and as a listener I simply don´t remember many of them when the album is over. It´s still fairly entertaining while it plays though, and I´d say a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Out of Order" is the 4th full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Nuclear Assault. The album was released through I.R.S. Records in September 1991. It´s the successor to "Handle With Care" from 1989. While Nuclear Assault weren´t the most commercially successful thrash metal act of their time, "Survive (1988)" and "Handle With Care (1989)" both earned them a strong following and the late 80s are probably considered their peak by most listeners. By 1991 the thrash metal scene was in decline, but Nuclear Assault soldiered on. The lineup who recorded "Handle With Care (1989)" is intact: John Connelly (vocals, guitars), Anthony Bramante (guitars, backing vocals), Dan Lilker (bass, backing vocals), and Glenn Evans (drums, percussion, backing vocals).

"Out of Order" opens pretty strong with "Sign in Blood", and "Fashion Junkie" and "Too Young to Die" are also decent tracks, but from there the quality of the material on the 11 track, 46:02 minutes long album drops. It´s not horrible low standards or anything like that, and Nuclear Assault are still a force to be reckoned with, but stylistically the album comes off fragmented and a bit directionless. It´s thrash metal metal done the Nuclear Assault way, although their previous crossover influences aren´t heard much on this album.

It´s still audible that Nuclear Assault are skilled musicians and John Connelly´s distinct sounding voice is as piercing and raw as ever, so the choice to let the other three guys in the band sing lead vocals on a couple of tracks is not a good one. None of those guys have voices which are especially distinct sounding, and the vocal parts on those tracks end up sounding slightly amateurish in comparison to the tracks where Connelly sings. From the outside it could look like a band with inner power struggles and a band who had run out of ideas, and desperately were trying to do something different to keep the flame alive. The uninspired cover of "Ballroom Blitz" by Sweet doesn´t really help on the positive impression of the album.

It´s a bit of a shame really, because the songwriting on the best tracks on the album show great maturity and development since the predecessor, and the sound production is professional, clear, and powerful. So "Out of Order" features a lot of great things too (I could mention a load of really well played guitar solos as one more great feature), but as described above also quite a few features dragging the album down. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Handle With Care" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Nuclear Assault. The album was released through In-effect (a shortlived sister label to Relativity Records) in November 1989. It´s the successor to "Survive" from 1988. While Nuclear Assault weren´t the most commercially successful thrash metal act of their time, "Survive (1988)" and "Handle With Care" both earned them a strong following and the late 80s are probably considered their peak by most listeners.

While "Survive (1988)" was a strong release, it was still at times a bit unfocused. "Handle With Care" is overall a much more focused and mature album when reviewing the songwriting, and a more varied release too. Sure we still get short "spoof" songs like "Funky Noise" and "Mother's Day", which admittedly disrupt the flow of the album a bit, but the rest of the material on the album is very consistent in style and quality. Heavy- and faster-paced thrash metal riffs, powerful organic drumming, a high in the mix distorted bass, and John Connelly´s raw piercing vocals in front. That´s the sound of Nuclear Assault. As mentioned the quality of the material is consistent, but I´d still like to mention tracks like "New Song", "Critical Mass" (that chorus riff is absolutely amazing), "Inherited Hell", "Trail of Tears", and "F# (Wake Up)" as highlights.

Lyrics about fear of nuclear war, environmental issues, animal rights, and political corruption, always gave Nuclear Assault a pretty serious profile, but they are the type of act who understand that such heavy topics are best swallowed if there is room for the occasional humourous moment, so while the above mentioned "spoof" songs aren´t exactly what I perceive as great art, they perfectly balance out the more serious part of the album. The approach is not completely unlike the approach of contemporary artists like Anthrax and Sacred Reich.

"Handle With Care" features a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well, and upon conclusion "Handle With Care" is just the right step in the development of the band´s sound, and overall a high quality thrash metal release. While the quality is high throughout, the greatest asset of "Handle With Care" is actually that Nuclear Assault have a unique sound. It´s not that they use elements that are unusual for thrash metal, but how they combine those elements and of course Connelly´s distinct sounding voice. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Survive" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Nuclear Assault. The album was released through I.R.S. Records in June 1988. It´s been nearly two years since the release of "Game Over (1986)", but the gap between the two full-length studio albums was filled with "The Plague (1987)" EP. Subsequent reissues of "Survive" have often featured the material from "The Plague (1987)" as bonus tracks.

Stylistically "Survive" is slightly harder edged and more thrashy than "Game Over (1986)", but still unmistakably the sound of Nuclear Assault. Sharp thrashy riffing, a rumbling distorted bass (placed high in the mix), pounding drums, and John Connelly´s piercing screaming vocals on top. He has a really distinct sounding voice, and it´s probably a bit of an aquired taste, but personally I think his vocal style fits the instrumental part of the music perfectly.

"Survive" features 12 tracks and full playing time of 31:21 minutes. 11 of those tracks are original material and the last track is a cover of "Good Times Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin. They could have left the Led Zeppelin cover off for all I care (it´s not a very interesting cover of an otherwise brilliant track), but there are several great tracks among the original material on the album. "Brainwashed", "Fight To Be Free", and "Equal Rights" are among the highlights, but the quality of the material is generally high. "Survive" also features a raw and powerful sound production, which suits the material well, and upon conclusion "Survive" feels like the right and natural step up from "Game Over (1986)". A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Kingcrimsonprog I love Nuclear Assault, and wanted to get this DVD for a long time, but it was only available in Region 1 NTSC (FOR AMERICAN AND CANADIAN DVD PLAYERS ONLY) but now it has been released on PAL region 2 I finally got it.

What can I tell you? Nuclear Assault are a great band who released some great music. However, they are a cult band, with little money to throw around and without major label backing. Their reunion live and studio albums met with mixed reviews and little success.

This DVD is one of the cheapest DVDs on the market, The main feature is shot in digital, badly edited , with a really muddy sound. On the plus side the performance is cool and the track listing is good. Bad visuals and audio detract however, and goofball John Connelly won't stop talking about a white Nissan; the small crowd aren't very enthusiastic either.

The bonus features aren't great either, poor home video style hand held camera footage from in the studio (Not the high budget studio footage you'd see on any other band's DVD) Slide shows of photos that are really badly edited; some very cool but poor quality live bootleg footage from the 80's (When the band had a bigger and more interested audience)

The most expensive thing on this DVD is the music video for `Price of Freedom,' which is the only thing here that was shot on film.

Overall, this is still a must for any serious Nuclear Assault fan; but you should know just how cheap it is before you buy it.