NUCLEAR ASSAULT — Something Wicked (review)

NUCLEAR ASSAULT — Something Wicked album cover Album · 1993 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
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to "Out of Order" from 1991 and features two lineup changes since the predecessor as guitarist Anthony Bramante has been replaced by Dave DiPietro and bassist Dan Lilker has been replaced by Scott Metaxas.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.
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