Nuclear Assault - Game Over (Classic Thrash)

Nuclear Assault - Game Over 1986

Nuclear Assault were a band I didn't really get into until a couple of years ago. Most of what I did know of them was their Handle With Care record, and even then I wasn't ready to understand. In the last decade I have been fortunate to go back and check out material I've missed, Nuclear Assault being one of many.

My first foray is Game Over, an album accentuated by full on in your face east coast thrash. Because I was late to Nuclear Assault I have no frame of reference to pull from, but lets not kid here, I'm glad to have a fresh unbiased ear to a now classic record. In my research.

I liked this record for a couple of reasons. It's the right mix of tempo changes, full on throttle adrenaline, interspersed with humor. The subject matter often carries tongue in cheek element, but what I truly like is the craft of which Game Over elicits. The other is the way this record starts strong, and finishes aptly, and confidently.

My feeling with this record is it can't exist out of the format of its creation, it also creates a very good foundation where Nuclear Assault builds upon with each successive release. I've felt between 1986-89 period was their best work. By the 1990's the thrash style took a major shift, they couldn't really adapt and I felt they didn't need to, but what was released is a curious affair. No matter, Game Over is a record I'm happy to have heard. Thanks for reading.

B.

My Music Journey Part 1

Part I: My beginnings the 70's

With the way things are today with digital technology permeating the landscape, as portability has made music as a always connected, and dedicated construct. There was a time when one could sit down, pop open a record, read the liner notes, marvel at the artwork, and listen. In this post I write about my foray into music. As we all are accustomed to with time, things have changed considerably. Gone are the 8 track tape players, cassette tapes, laser discs, mini discs, and soon Compact Discs and DVD’s. Through all the changes, where we are currently with file formats MP3, OGG, M4a, Flac, and streaming, LP’s still stick around. Now before I get all teary eyed, and reminisce I must set the stage of where my introduction to music came from.

My introduction to music was through my father and his LP’s. Records like Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow brick Road, Jim Croce’s You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, Life and Times, The Animals, The Beatles, The Carpenters, and ABBA. With those records the warm timber resonated from an analog format long forgotten in today's world. My father was a huge audiophile. Nothing would skip past his attention, yet sadly he lost the drive to continue moving with the music in terms of change, he always had a fondness for those classic records.

Quadraphonic setups were all the rage of the 1970′s, I would sit in front of my dad’s Goliath speakers and feel the pops, tones, varied pitches, bass, and drumming of those analog records.  Through my father. my introduction to music was in my early youth (during mid 1970′s), some songs would stick in my head. Melodies from Jim Croce’s song Time In A Bottle for example, employs a note from the acoustic guitar, which is jarring as it is eerily haunting.

Whereas The Animal’s song House Of The Rising Sun uses a crescendo vocal style, and a side stepping guitar riff.  Then there is Elton John’s Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding a varied note which drags out into a monolithic progression inside an ever changing landscape of sound.  Some of those songs would stick around in my head.  Hearing other groups like The Carpenters, and ABBA would supplant more weird compositions, and would implant within me the typical cliche type song structures.

I was often left with this curious question: How could a person harness the ability to contain, wrangle, or throttle something one couldn’t see, but can feel and hear? Since I was really young I didn’t understand the inner workings of science, or the concepts of what sound is, I had to trust my lack of understanding of what I was hearing. At that time, I was supposed to be playing with other children,  and learning about being a kid. Why was I listening to these crazy records? Pure innate curiosity.

At an early age I didn’t have the ability to discern what was considered appropriate material, so anything I heard was without a filter. This meant I was exposed to records that were created under political motivations, storytelling, or altered states of being. Not that I could understand what the lyrics to some of The Doors songs. or trying to figure out what the hell the Beatles were yammering on with Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds. I had questions to what was I was listening to. I wanted answers, but I had no way to effectively convey the right question, or how to ask it. If I did ask it was often met with blank stares, and scolded.

This would start my eventual dislike of the era. I was bothered by the love movement, it irked me that the concept of sharing, peace, harmony, and altered states of consciousness. I disliked disco because of the spastic, redundant, and party time atmosphere. I was too young to understand the complexion, undertones, and motivations of the work. It was when I became older, more aware of the world around me to really get what was out there.

Next up part II...Thanks for reading.

B.

Sacred Reich - Ignorance (Classic Thrash)

Sacred Reich - Ignorance 1987

I figured on talking about Sacred Reich and where and how I came to find this diamond of a record. My real taste didn't begin until the 90's with Heal, and The American Way. I know they hail from Arizona United States, whereas the topics are very much about the era: Reaganomics, nuclear annihilation, and thinking for yourself. What I liked about Sacred Reich is they're not so palatable amongst the masses aspect; either you liked what they did or you didn't.


I found them as an oddity of sorts, but with their cover of Oingo Boingo's Who Do You Want To Be? off of Heal sold me instantaneously. I would even say these gents were off the beaten path like Oingo Boingo because they didn't fit in insomuch but rather carved out their own path.

Ignorance is a record that gave them a point to start from, as its crazy fast, ballsy, and grinds effortlessly. The fact this record still keeps my interest long after it was released is cool. I've always liked that I can understand the lyrics, and the tonality of the players.

It is a record of its time. I don't think there is much difference in the construction of its political message, because its about the same now with regards to more ardent and militant with polarized debates and the the such. If there is one thing that is always fluid is the need to make oneself acutely aware of their surroundings. Ignorance I think pelts the unaware just enough to pay close attention to the world one lives in.

Ignorance gives copious amounts of food for thought on human relations, an rift of silly paranoia, whilst adhering to personal ethics without compromising self intrepidity. I believe these are hallmarks of an era that is sadly been relegated to a niche or forgotten status.

I implore those who read this to check these guys out, thanks for reading.

B.

Voivod Target Earth Review

Voivod Target Earth 2013

(r) 01/22/2013

One of the curious factors in my listening preferences is in the last four years I've gone back to the well and picked up many early bands whom started styles, and were movements in their respective locales.

My first taste of anything Canadian was D.B.C. (Dead Brain Cells) who employed a mixture of punk and thrash elements, whereas Annihilator were an aesthetic of total thrash, and then much much later I dove into Voivod whom are a different beast altogether.

Voivod have done a remarkable job of keeping the flame alive of being just off center of what is out there. My preferential go to albums are Nothingface, and The Outer Limits. They are as close to a science fiction composition, as they are in the ability to create interesting narratives to that foundation. Target Earth is a welcomed return, while bridging familiarity, and infusing fresh perspective. I feel it either works, or does not depending on my mood. What must really grab me is an instantaneous core which elicits atmospheric pastures, and pulsating beats.

What I do like are the first few tracks, they sound re-energized, competent, and capable. The thing that starts to fall for me is towards the middle section of the album because it falls. Its downward slope I think is a result in of the long play format with digital records, and I think this could have served a bit better as an EP. I think this can be digested into parts rather than as a complete full length.

Breaking it up a bit so the audience can integrate the complexities. I think this is also a result of the continued onslaught, and it is to a point of overload. Groups can elect to control how much they want to put out into there, as to keep their brand as recognizable, this I foresee being something bands will and should do in the future.

Target Earth I think needed to be digested in parts rather than as a complete whole package. I enjoy the record because its strong, and constructed with good clarity. On the flip side the fact the songs do sometimes blend into one another and it really compounds rather than accentuates the full experience. Nothing here can I fault with the musicianship, as it's fantastic. Thanks for reading.

B.

Virus - The Agent That Shapes The Desert Review

Virus The Agent That Shapes The Desert 2011

****/*****

Virus Bandcamp Site

A little more different than The Black Flux, this record settles into a very calculated logical orientation. I feel as though this record feels lonely, isolated, hunted, and judged. A great deal of the songs themselves have a discordant expositions, and mixing more of a looser playability seemed to really highlight Czral's guitar style this time.

At the midway point, the record settles into a very relaxed aspect, churning out each bit into throngs and pallets of emotion. It is rhythmic as hell, and though it doesn't fit the standard of groove expectation, it has something else that I admire, it sounds like nothing else out there.

The Agent That Shapes The Desert there's an unsureness but an unknown vibe that is sprinkled throughout. Though I believe this gets record pushes another evolution of Virus's 'sound', and that is pretty cool. It isn't what is expected and that I think works.

This is a record that feels traveled, and conflicted. For the atmosphere really does take some getting used to, and that is just fine for me. Its not supposed to be something that just pops or is accepted right away, it takes a little time, and it grows on you. Give it a try. Thanks for reading.

B.

Virus - Carheart Review

Virus Carheart 2003

Virus Bandcamp Site

A fantastic mix of distortion, and off time rhythms. The vocals really throws the listener into a auditory exposure to film noir atmospheres. Texturally speaking this hangs in my head. The title track brings back a familiar modern music vibe of the mid to late 80s, while also harkening back to a lost jazz era. It works I think because this isn't as familiar to the senses.

Though I'm ten years late to this record, I've gone on and learned about the band, its history, and some of the more unique qualities that I think give this a standout from the pack. In the last few years I've hit a wall of sorts in my listening experiences, and not having a lot of great successes finding what really fits my palate has really been a frustrating endeavor.  

Virus bridges this gap for me, and I've come to accept this will be the norm. Part of it is age, along with a finer fringe of my exposure and having great distances (because I don't have the ability to really be there). I've really leaned into the European sound, and I've liked what I've heard, thusly why I've been more accustomed to this idiom in the last few years. With Carheart I feel I've come full circle as a listener as well.

Carheart is dreamy and oozes large doses of twangy, and has a crisp off center vibe. This record has this scenic presence which sticks to your senses, and though there hints and nods to Ved Buens Ende all over it, the really interesting part is the missing blast beat motifs. The wispy or scratchy vocals are now a totally new beast, each track has a different ambient flair. I have gone back and forth on whether this is my favorite of the Virus lore, and I'm leaning towards being a continuation that flows into The Black Flux. Carheart is a record I've sunk into and have enjoyed immensely. Thanks for reading.


B.

Sleepy Time Gorllia Museum - In Glorius Time Review

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum In Glorious Times 2007



I have no idea what this is, and frankly that intrigues me. When I found this year, I was totally thrown backwards by how off center it is. Questions arise as to what instrument's are those? How come I have never really been aware of this band?

You bet this sticks with me because I've kept coming back to this and their first record. Wow. This is art in a way I've not really heard before. Though I'm quite familiar with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's shtick, the lore or story, that isn't what I care about here. I still find curious nibblets and crevices in In Glorious Times, for what it is worth.


This record weaves in and out of a chaotic place, there are some standard numbers, but it doesn't fit with what is expected in any shape. Every song is constructed to feel like its own affair rather than fit into an overall piece (at first), but after awhile I found that the songs work in a disjointed way. I love the shit out of the bass work on Formicary, is as off time as anything I've heard in quite sometime.

I think they've followed in the school of thought like the group Oingo Boingo. Like Boingo they were unique voice amongst a lot of distortion i.e. a modern band, whereas SGM follows in that next idiom. Because of that, I'm just blown away by the presentation. There is a mix of all styles packaged in a neat way. Though I think they were undeserved by a eclectic audience, the thing that I really like is that they are insulated from the type of monster exposure which has been aped and broken by large entities for per profit.

But, I think the more I delve into this pasture of sound, the more I'm hungry. What else can I find that has this type of presentation. I've already been well versed with King Crimson, The Swans, and Oingo Boingo, who else is out there? To hell with radio, there isn't anything I care to hear there anyways. I am anxious to hear what their final opus will be. Thanks for reading.

B.