Nuclear Assault

Borderline hardcore band formed by Danny Lilker after he left Anthrax (as well as doing the "Stormtroopers of Death" side project.) Consistently tight and fast, with John Connelly's vocals often belted out at an inhuman pace! Nearly all these CDs have gone out of print since the band broke up, so I can gloat over you people who don't have them. :) Multitalented drummer Glenn Evans also did a one-man solo project called C.I.A..

"Game Over/The Plague"

  1. "Live, Suffer, Die"--instrumental (1:05)
  2. "Sin" (3:22)
  3. "Cold Steel" (2:41)
  4. "Betrayal" (2:58)
  5. "Radiation Sickness" (2:47)
  6. "Hang the Pope..." (0:43)
  7. "After the Holocaust" (3:42)
  8. "Mr. Softee Theme"--instrumental (0:25)
  9. "Stranded in Hell" (3:35)
  10. "Nuclear War" (3:44)
  11. "My America" (0:31)
  12. "Vengeance" (2:47)
  13. "Brain Death" (7:14)
  14. "Game Over"--instrumental (2:36)
  15. "Nightmares" (3:56)
  16. "Butt Fuck" (aka "You Figure it Out") (2:54)
  17. "Justice" (4:17)
  18. "The Plague" (4:54)
  19. "Cross of Iron" (3:38)

This was QUITE a find, their first classic album combined with their first classic EP on one classic CD! Each song stands out loud and proud, from the straightforward speed-metal of "Sin", to the rhtyhmically midtempo "After the Holocaust", to the short-and-to-the-point "Hang the Pope" ("Hang the Pope, hang the Pope, hang the Pope, hang the Pope, hang the Pope, hang the Pope, hang him with a fucking rope!"), to the nearly progressive "Brain Death". I used to fill up the blank space at the end of road tapes with "Mr. Softee Theme" played over and over and over...boy that annoyed the hell out of some people!

"Survive!"

  1. "Rise from the Ashes" (3:04)
  2. "Brainwashed" (2:40)
  3. "F#" (2:36)
  4. "Survive" (2:58)
  5. "Fight to be Free" (4:22)
  6. "Got Another Quarter"--instrumental (0:19)
  7. "Great Depression" (3:30)
  8. "Wired" (3:03)
  9. "Equal Rights" (2:58)
  10. "P.S.A." (0:08)
  11. "Technology" (3:13)
  12. "Good Times, Bad Times" (2:14)

I bought this on crappy vinyl the very day it came out, and loved it. Quite similar in style to the first album, with enough variation to keep it from getting stagnant. "Brainwashed" is an awesome song, and even provided a cool video. The cover of Led Zeppelin's "Good Times, Bad Times" doesn't really work, though.

"Fight to be Free/Brain Death" (single)

  1. "Fight to be Free" (4:22)
  2. "Equal Rights" (2:58)
  3. "Stand Up" (2:44)
  4. "Brain Death" (7:14)
  5. "Final Flight" (2:24)
  6. "Demolition" (4:20)

I used to own both these singles on crappy vinyl -- finding them on a single CD was a brilliant discovery! I can safely say that my Nuclear Assault collection is COMPLETE (with the exception of the studio version of "Lesbians", which I think was only released on the Game Over cassette.)

"Handle with Care"

  1. "New Song" (2:57)
  2. "Critical Mass" (3:18)
  3. "Inherited Hell" (3:29)
  4. "Surgery" (2:44)
  5. "Emergency" (3:19)
  6. "Funky Noise"--instrumental (0:50)
  7. "F-Natural (Wake Up)" (2:57)
  8. "When Freedom Dies" (2:32)
  9. "Search & Seizure" (4:10)
  10. "Torture Tactics" (2:22)
  11. "Mother's Day" (0:31)
  12. "Trail of Tears" (5:43)

This CD was when the band was at their peak. The sound still hasn't changed much, but each song sounds just as fresh and crisp as ever. Standout tracks: "New Song", "F-Natural (Wake Up)" and "Trail of Tears".

"Live at the Hammersmith Odeon"

  1. "New Song" (3:11)
  2. "Critical Mass" (3:17)
  3. "Game Over"--instrumental (2:29)
  4. "Nightmares" (3:56)
  5. "Butt Fuck" (3:54)
  6. "Survive" (3:41)
  7. "Torture Tactics" (2:08)
  8. "Trail of Tears" (3:57)
  9. "Mother's Day" (1:00)
  10. "My America" (0:40)
  11. "Hang the Pope..." (0:50)
  12. "Lesbians" (1:21)
  13. "Funky Noise"--instrumental (0:51)
  14. "Good Times, Bad Times" (2:41)

A live recording from the Handle with Care tour, released several years later. I saw the band on this tour and they were so loud and distorted, I couldn't make out a single riff or lyric! The production quality is much cleaner here, but the band's performance is raw and sloppy (in "Butt Fuck", for example, John Connelly basically mumbles the words), and worst of all, it's too damn short. It's only real value is for the song "Lesbians", which has NEVER appeared on any CD of theirs.

"Out of Order"

  1. "Sign in Blood" (3:47)
  2. "Fashion Junkie" (3:44)
  3. "Too Young to Die" (3:51)
  4. "Preaching to the Deaf" (4:49)
  5. "Resurrection" (5:12)
  6. "Stop Wait Think" (5:02)
  7. "Doctor Butcher" (3:42)
  8. "Quocustodiat" (2:35)
  9. "Hypocrisy" (2:49)
  10. "Save the Planet"--instrumental (6:36)
  11. "Ballroom Blitz" (3:57)

The band really took a nosedive on this album. "Sign in Blood" starts off plodding and pointless, and it goes downhill from there. Even the instrumental "Save the Planet" is uninspiring, and "Ballroom Blitz" was done much better by Krokus.

"Something Wicked"

  1. "Something Wicked" (4:40)
  2. "Another Violent End" (5:08)
  3. "Behind Glass Walls" (4:09)
  4. "Chaos" (3:56)
  5. "The Forge" (5:12)
  6. "No Time" (5:18)
  7. "To Serve Man" (2:26)
  8. "Madness Descends" (4:30)
  9. "Poetic Justice" (2:47)
  10. "Art" (0:08)
  11. "The Other End"--instrumental (0:38)

Danny Lilker left the band, and the soul of Nuclear Assault went with him. These songs are much slower and pop-oriented than anything they've done before, which at least is a change of pace (that is, I actually liked it at first.) Even the fast-paced songs, such as "Poetic Justice", are sorely lacking in energy. Thankfully, the band did the right thing and broke up after this one.

"Assault & Battery"

  1. "Happy Days" (3:45)
  2. "Enter Darkness" (3:20)
  3. "Leaders" (3:54)
  4. "Hang the Pope" (0:41)
  5. "Radiation Sickness" (2:39)
  6. "Hypocrisy" (3:07)
  7. "Behind Glass Walls" (4:10)
  8. "No Time" (4:02)
  9. "Hour Shower" (1:00)
  10. "Sadam" (2:36)
  11. "Preaching to the Deaf" (4:31)
  12. "Hang the Pope" (0:49)
  13. "Ping"--live (0:11)
  14. "Torture Tactics"--live (2:30)
  15. "Fight to be Free"--live (5:13)
  16. "Trail of Tears"--live (5:21)
  17. "Ping Again"--live (0:12)
  18. "Butt Fuck"--live (3:49)

Not sure what's the story behind this one. Obviously, it's a collection of unreleased tracks (most notably "Happy Days" -- yes, from the TV show!) and studio outtakes of songs that appeared on their albums. The two "Hang the Pope" versions are VERY raw, but the live tracks sound awful, as if someone in the audience recorded it on a Walkman...

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