Nuclear Assault

Alive Again (SPV/Screaming Ferret)
by Tim Den

True, Nuclear Assault are probably my all-time favorite thrash act. Albums like Handle With Care and (especially) Out of Order just tickle my old school palette like no other. However, even I know that these guys were never the tightest of bands. So after being out of action for nearly a decade, reforming via a live album isn’t exactly the best way to prove your relevance. Especially not when most of the tracks on Alive Again are already available on Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, an album as badly recorded and performed from ’89 as the “comeback” we’ve got here. Seriously, I thought boombox-quality live albums were relics of the ’80s, but apparently Nuclear Assault are still fond of the “what song are they playing?” aesthetic. Limiting the setlist to only the first four albums doesn’t help either, as nothing from Out of Order is included here. Add to this mess sloppy renditions of songs you already own three times over, and I’m almost sadder now that they’ve reformed than when I first heard they’d broken up.
(www.spv.de)