Band – Nuclear Tomb
Album – Terror Labyrinthian
Country of Origin – USA
Genre – Death/Thrash
Release Date – April 19, 2024
Label – Everlasting Spew Records
Author – Hayduke X
Fatal Visions falls in the number three spot, a common placement for one of best songs on an album. I could easily make a case for that being true here, but honestly, “Terror Labyrinthian” is back to back to back bangers. Prominent bass, nasty riffs, and an overall belligerence do make Fatal Visions a memorable track. The Voivod influence is strong in this one, with the band’s own deathier twist. Prepare for two and a half minutes of Terror (Labyrinthian).
It has become reasonably common for promotional materials for thrashy bands to namecheck Voivod as a reference. My ears always perk up when this happens, as I’m a huge three-and-a-half decade long fan of my fellow Canadian weirdos. Most times the comparison is dead wrong. Voivod have never been straightforward thrash. There are plenty of excellent bands who are. Namecheck them instead. It’s within this context that I want to talk about Nuclear Tomb’s new album “Terror Labyrinthian.” The promotional materials state that the record is for fans of “Voivod, early Pestilence, early Sadus, Suppression.” I’ll stick with the Voivod comparison, as that’s the band I know best from these four.
Let me start by saying that this comparison is spot-on. Nuclear Tomb certainly has their own thing going. They have more death metal influence, for one thing. However, they are weird in many of the ways that Voivod is weird. They have punky noise rock influences mixed into their thrashing brew. They play with rhythm and dynamics in a way that makes me think of the Canadian masters. Even their cover art shows some sci fi cyber tech weirdness that makes me think of the “Nothingface” album cover. I’ll note here that this is real art done by Lucas Korte of Shoggoth Kinetics. (I will never purposely cover an album with AI art…call me out on it, if I miss one).
The quartet from Baltimore, Maryland is made up of Michael Brown on guitar and vocals. His raspy bark is a great fit, calling back to the early titans of thrash. Matt Ibach joins him on guitar where the duo romp through riff after riff, wielding them like sabers to attack the senses. The bass lines of Amelia Morris are prominent in the mix, which is a definite positive, as they are both strange and strong. Rounding out the quartet is JD Lookabill on drums, where he provides a barrage of thrash-tastic rhythms.
Stay tuned to this one. April 19th marks the date the full beast will be unleashed on the world, and it’s a good one. People of a certain generation (that is, old thrashers like me) will find lots to like here. Really anyone who enjoys well written, forward thinking heavy music needs to check this out. It’s a banger!
Available from the Everlasting Spew label website and Bandcamp.
Biography: Hayduke X has been writing for MoshPitNation since June of 2016. He is also a contributor to The Metal Wanderlust. Prior to joining the MoshPitNation team, Hayduke published reviews on his own blog Rage and Frustration. In addition, he has DJ’ed an online metal radio show of the same name as his blog, written for TOmetal.com, done interviews for Metal Rules, and collaborated with The Art of B Productions to create video interviews with a wide variety of bands.
