Music DVD Review: Nuclear Assault - Louder, Harder, Faster

Nuclear Assault is a band that I never paid much attention to back in their heyday. I was late getting into music, and my gateway to metal went through the glam and hair days of the late 1980s, before moving onto such luminaries as Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, Testament, and a little bit of Slayer before I got sucked into the grunge movement of the 1990s. So, please forgive me for not having any knowledge of Nuclear Assault's body of work, save for knowing that former Anthrax bassist, Dany Lilker, was a founding member.

Anyway, after a 10 year hiatus, the band reformed and released Third World Genocide last year, and are reintroducing themselves to the metal scene. They have done some well received touring, and are following up that CD with their first ever DVD release, with Louder, Harder, Faster.

The centerpiece of the CD is a 40 minute set recorded on June 5, 2005. The show is pure brutality. These guys are fast, loud, heavy, and not really for me. As much as it pains me to say this, Nuclear Assault just strikes me as noise. Sure, I could get into the energy they put out, rocking to the madness onstage, but it isn't something that I felt. It was heaviness with no substance.

Despite me not really liking this, the disk is an absolute must have for anyone who is a fan. In addition to the recent concert, there is a ton of extra material. There is footage, of generally poor quality, from 6 or 7 other shows over the years from all over the world, dating all the way back to 1985. Seeing the different shows through the years is very cool.

There is even more than that, there is an interview with Dan Lilker and Glenn Evans, a couple of videos, and a couple of unreleased tracks,including the pseudo country of "Long Haired A$$hole."

Audio/Video. The concert is presented full frame with the choice of 5.1 and 2.0 audio. Sadly, neither one is all that good. There is a lot of video noise, and the color is not all that good. What it does do is capture the down and dirty nature of the show.

Set list for the main show:

01. Rise From The Ashes
02. Brainwash
03. F#
04. New Song
05. Critical Mass
06. Game Over/Butt F**k
07. Sin
08. Price Of Freedom
09. Long Haired A**hole
10. Trail Of Tears

Bottomline. Nuclear Assault is not for me. I will be metal until I die, but these guys just didn't do it for me. If you are a fan, be sure to get out and pick up a copy of this disk.

Recommended for fans only.