Nuclear Assault - Handle with Care
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Nuclear Assault's Handle with Care
Still, it's a bracing artifact from another era. No band embodied the '80s thrash stereotype of Ed Repka artwork and nuclear holocaust lyrics more than Nuclear Assault. Their video for "Critical Mass" is amusingly literal, from printing the lyrics at the bottom of the frame to inserting pictures of oil spills and dying forests right when the lyrics mention those things. To add to the '80s-ness, Riki Rachtman introduces this video on the original Headbangers Ball, and Jessica Hahn makes a non sequitur appearance.
Both videos Nuclear Assault made for Handle with Care passed by me at the time. If I had seen either one, I probably would have bought that longbox. "Trail of Tears" (unsurprisingly, MTV misspells the title) is classic '80s metal video material, from the fade edits to the theme of the oppressed young metalhead. (See Megadeth's "Peace Sells" or any number of MTV videos about kids rebelling against parents. Metal was adolescent and more vulnerable then. Now metal is grown up and its videos have more swagger.) Thematically and geographically (dead-end lives in bombed-out New York), this video recalls the ones Skid Row made for their first album ("18 and Life," "Youth Gone Wild," "I Remember You,"), which came out the same year. Of course, the music is different, but the line between glam and real metal in the '80s was finer than most poser-killers would admit.
Labels: anniversaries, clee, features, thrash metal, usa, videos
9 Comments:
I had this cassette. It was one of my favorites at the time. That dirty bass and loud thrash changed me for sure. It's 20 years old? Amazing.
classic album...Emergency was probably the fastest thing aside from Kreator i had heard at the time (i wouldn't hear Napalm Death until Harmony Corruption 1 or 2 years later in 7th grade). Definitely their best album i even had the VHS tape that came out as a result of the tour lol.
"Now metal is grown up"
I don't think swagger is an accomplishment related to that but rather that metal has gone mainstream enough to feel better about itself that it doesn't constantly self-victimize with its 'us versus them' shtick. To show your cock is a juvenile reflex, just more jock-ish than nerd-ish (and there was plenty of that in the 80's too).
Not that I don't love a lot of teenager HM (the majority of what I listen to, actually) but grown-up HM doesn't turn into a sensible adult, certainly. It can only break the frame, unshackle foundations, challenge itself, stretch its elytrous wingspan. From Dark Quarterer all the way to Negura Bunget. No fun, no mosh no core and certainly no swagger.
So much discourse in metal is "us vs. them." Interesting that you posit it as self-victimization. I could buy that theory.
It's strange to hear this again after all these years. I also have the cassette, but seeing as I never upgraded it to CD, it's been at least fifteen years since I last listened. NA sounds better than I remember, I guess I might have to pick it up again.
This post influenced me to throw my vinyl copy of this onto ye olde turntable last night. Better than I remember. I was a young thrash elitist back then and preferred the dirtier Game Over record. What a little asshole, this record kicks.
I love this record - still listen to it once or twice a month - and always seem to have the songs linger in my head for days after.
More left wing crap metal.Nuclear Assault and Anthrax were laughed at by me and my boys.That was comic book metal for comic book readers.
That's a fascinating comment, above.
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