19. Nuclear Assault Game Over 1986 (Combat)
Thrash metal
The living must surely envy the dead.
The Lowdown
Despite being an American west coast phenomenon thrash metal sprouted up in several other locales across the USA and New York was one of such location. Constantly a hotbed of developing musical genres historically, New York had been somewhat left behind in the American heavy metal revolution of the 1980s and had lagged behind the likes of Los Angeles and San Francisco as a city that raised quality metal bands at this time. Anthrax would put New York city onto that map and former Anthrax bassist Dan Liker who had appeared on the spunky Stormtroopers of Death album
Speak English or Die (see 1985 review) would form the impressive Nuclear Assault thrash outfit a short time after. Their debut album
Game Over would turn out to be one of the strongest efforts in their whole discography and one of the many must hear thrash releases of the year. Despite being recently formed, the members of Nuclear Assault fronted by former high school teacher John Connelly, were already seasoned veterans of the New York thrash metal community and their album comes across as a seasoned effort by a bunch of artists that knew exactly what they were doing when it came to thrash. Some critics slam the album as being generic and I suppose if they’re referring to the album in hindsight they may have a case, but for its time the album flows with a certain amount of fiery ambition and this becomes evident from a track like “Sin”. This track then flows into the equally strong “Cold Steel” before then embarking on the slower paced “Betrayal” a song with amusing lyrics, as John Connelly constantly sings about a ‘backstabbing whore’ and the humour contibues also on the errr delightfully titled “Hang the Pope” which lasts all of just 46 seconds and the even shorter “My America” at just 29 seconds. On these last couple of tracks the band have clearly ventured into humorous Stormtroopers of Death territory which of course is a bonus. The inevitable tracks about nuclear warfare the central theme of the album come in the form of “Radiation Sickness” “After the Holocaust” and “Nuclear War” and these tracks add further fuel to the fire here and “Nuclear War” probably ranks as my favourite cut on the album. The Album closer “Brain Death” runs at seven and a half minutes and in my mind the band didn’t quite have the chops to keep this kind of track going for such a lengthy period. The riffs are both tight and furious across the album and at times there is an almost epic backdrop to some of the tracks which adds further fuel to the futuristic grasp, that the album has on a possible future for mankind. The album was produced by Alex Perialas a thrash metal producer who besides working with Anthrax, Stormtroopers of Death and Nuclear Assault at this time, would soon go onto produce vital thrash metal acts like Overkill and Testament as well. I also love the
Game Over cover as it’s straight to point with its nuclear holocaust message and its comicbook zombie style characters on its album cover, which contrasts really well with the album cover’s red and yellow backdrop. After this album the band would release
The Plague EP in 1987 and is largely remembered for the controversial “Butt **** (You Figure it Out)” track that ill advisedly makes fun of Vince Neil’s infamous ar crash, which goes to show that despite the humour of the band, they often didn’t get it right and failed to run the censor over their own work.
Game Over has been ranked on Rock Hard’s The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time list and will be of particular interest to anybody that really digs vintage sounding thrash from this time.
John Connelly- Guitar/Vocals
Anthony Bramante- Guitar
Dan Liker- Bass
Glenn Evans- Drums
Production- Alex Perialas