If there is one thing South America has taught me about metal, it’s that their fans are extremely passionate and their metal bands are full on. Sepultura helped pave the way for more of these bands to surface and having recently covered Anal Vomit’s latest release, it was only natural that Nuclear’s latest offering of no nonsense classic thrash should be looked at too. Cutting a long story short, Nuclear started out in 1995 under the name “Escoria”, released an album and disbanded in 2001. Three of the members created Nuclear in 2003 and since then they’ve been one of the most solid sounding classic styled thrash bands in the western hemisphere. Let’s see if we can cook up the Anarchy on this one following the formula that the five piece from Santiago have left us.
From the off, this is a thrash album through and through. The powerful vocal roar and rapid, cutting thrash guitar assault which opens the first track of the album, “Offender” spells out what the 28 minute and 31 second long album is going to sound like – no bullshit, no compromise, full on classic thrash. Furious pace, angry and intense sounds, harsh and quickly delivered vocals, harmony riffs and wild soloing is the theme and as you go through the tracks, you’ll get the occasional slowing down for a colossal groove or a real meaty chugging section, but it’s pretty much Municipal Waste meets 80’s Slayer – wild, untamed and uncontrollable.
Tracks like “Confront”, “Self Righteous Hypocrites” and “Left For Dead” have that classic Slayer feel to them whilst “Waging War” and “Killing Spree” favour more of an emphasis on groove, similar to Exodus in some ways. The drums are relentless, rarely slowing down and the bass when you can catch it has a real thunderous feel to it, but as with most thrash bands, the draw here are the vocals and the guitars. Vocally, its more angry shouting than traditional air raid siren screaming and given how hostile this album sounds, this approach works well. The guitars are precise and in perfect time with each other. Harmony riffs, wild soloing and furious paced riffing is all over this album and delivered to the standard you would expect from a band like Nuclear.
Full of energy and a real call back to the ‘golden days’ of Thrash, “Formula For Anarchy” is a great record. It has that classic sound to it, the attitude and edge of the old punk sound which played a big part in shaping the sound of thrash and it has the right sound and qualities for it to be a great thrash album. Wild but precise, fast, angry, loud, its Thrash metal played the way it should be! A must for the Thrashers this year!
(8/10 Fraggle)
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