Nuclear Assault - Critical Mass

Sunday, time for a classic.

As the recent days have completely been dedicated to the American Thrash Metal I think a classic also fits in nicely.

As one of the most-respected and hardest hitting forerunners of the original thrash metal scene, NUCLEAR ASSAULT have built an impressive and enduring legacy through their time-tested, frenzied metal attack, socially aware lyrics and healthy sense of humor.

Formed in 1985 by guitarist/vocalist John Connelly and bassist Danny Lilker (ANTHRAX, SOD, BRUTAL TRUTH), NUCLEAR ASSAULT became one of the few bands from the Northeastern US to rival the Bay Area thrash domination in the 1980's. Storming out of New York with their 1987 debut "Game Over", the band has created a legacy of work that has stood the test of time. Indeed albums such as "The Plague EP", "Survive" and "Handle With Care" sound as powerful today as when they first hit the streets (and many of Connelly's lyrics are very prophetic considering the world situation in 2005).

Today's tune "Critical Mass" is a tune taken from the third studio album "Handle With Care" released in 1989. This is the band's most successful and best-selling album to date, peaking at number 126 on the Billboard 200, making it their highest position so far. "Critical Mass" was released as a single to promote the album.

"Handle With Care" is a classic record, which is quite obvious in a metalheads album collection.

Anecdotes from "Handle With Care":

The sentence "The svastika is calling you" which is heard at the very end of the song "Torture Tactics", is taken from the movie The Blues Brothers. This sentence is yelled on the megaphone by the head of the Illinois Nazi Party (played by Henry Gibson) during the scene of the bridge. "Torture Tactics" being a very caricatured political song towards Nazis, this sentence is suited, since The Blues Brothers is a caricatured movie too.

Enjoy today's tune!



More info @

Official Nuclear Assault Archive

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