Nuclear Assault: История американской трэш-метал группы

American thrash metal band

Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid to late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, Toxik, Carnivore, and Anthrax, the last of which was co founded by Nuclear Assault bassist Dan Lilker, who left Anthrax shortly after the release of their first album. Nuclear Assault released five full length albums and toured relentlessly throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, and broke up in 1995. The band reunited briefly in 1997, 2002, 2005 and 2015 before breaking up for the fourth time in 2022. Nuclear Assault has released six studio albums to date, in addition to two live albums, four EPs and one compilation album. Their most successful records are Survive (1988) and Handle with Care (1989), which peaked at Nos. 145 and 126 on the Billboard 200 chart, respectively. Other than four new songs in 2015 on the EP Pounder, the band did not release any more full length studio albums after 2005's Third World Genocide, and continued to perform live sporadically over the following years before calling it quits once again in 2022.

After the release of Anthrax's debut album Fistful of Metal, bassist Dan Lilker, a founding member of the group, was fired by the band. He decided to pursue a more aggressive style of music and formed Nuclear Assault with guitarist vocalist John Connelly, who had been involved in an early version of Anthrax. They were joined by guitarist Mike Bogush and drummer Scott Duboys (later of Cities, Cycle Sluts from Hell and Warrior Soul). The group's first live performance was at the Union Jack in South River, New Jersey, in late 1984. Bogush was later replaced by Anthony Bramante. Later, feeling constrained by their contract with Combat, the band signed with I. R. S. Records and recorded Survive in 1988. The album reached number 145 on the US Billboard 200 chart and Nuclear Assault set off on a 180 day world tour The next album, 1989's Handle with Care, would see the band at their commercial peak, hitting the U. S. chart at number 126, with more touring, including a trip to Japan and a U. S. tour opening for Testament and Savatage.

Constant touring and recording was taking its toll on the band, and there was a rumor that the band might split. The recording of Out of Order was problematic as all four members were in the process of making solo projects. Lead songwriter Connelly was conspicuously absent from the recording process. He only sang on five of the songs and played the guitar on one ("Quocustodiat" was his only full writing credit), leaving Evans and Lilker to do most of the recording alone. Out of Order was poorly received and during the subsequent tour in 1991–1992 there was some line up shuffling – Connelly moved to vocals only for a time with second guitarist Dave DiPietro joining in 1992. Founding member Lilker departed to concentrate on Brutal Truth and longtime guitarist Bramante followed by the end of the year. Undaunted, Connolly, Evans and DiPietro recorded Something Wicked for IRS/EMI in 1993 with new bassist Scott Metaxas, the title track featuring in the film Warlock: The Armageddon. Reviews again were somewhat unfavorable, as Nuclear Assault struggled to adapt to a less thrash friendly music scene. After touring Europe and the US for much of 1993 the band returned with a new line up of Dave Spitz on bass and a returning Bramante, joining Connelly and Evans for more North American touring before slowly coming to a halt in early 1995. The band contributed their take on Die Hard for a Venom tribute album in 1995 before calling it a day. Nuclear Assault's classic lineup later reunited for one concert in 1997 (put on by Eric Paone of Candy Striper Death Orgy in New Hampshire) then, two more shows the following year with Eric Paone on bass guitar in New England before parting ways a second time.

The classic lineup reformed once again in 2002 to perform at the Metal Meltdown and Wacken festivals and subsequently recorded a live album entitled Alive Again, Bramante leaving for the last time and adding guitarist Eric Burke in time for several European tours, first with Testament and Death Angel in, then with Exodus and Agent Steel both in 2003. In 2013, it was announced that Nuclear Assault was working on a new album, which was due for release in 2015. They instead released an EP on June 1, 2015, titled Pounder, which featured "four killer old school thrash" songs written by Dan Lilker and John Connelly. The band embarked on the "Final Assault" tour to support the EP in 2015 16. By 2022, however, Nuclear Assault had continued to perform live sporadically, mostly in South America as well as both the East Coast and West Coast of the United States. On November 20, 2022, Nuclear Assault announced on social media that they had once again called it quits.