Album Review: Nuclear Warfare – Empowered By Hate (MDD Records)

Old school German thrash metallers, Nuclear Warfare will release their new album, Empowered by Hate on August 4th 2017 via MDD Records.

Empowered by Hate is 10 tracks of neck-breaking thrash metal, drawing influences from the cream of the 80’s heydays. After the Battle showcases this with its ‘take no prisoner’ hard riffing, harsh vocals & explosive solo. It’s followed up by the even more brutal pace of Let the Hate Reign & Mata Com Faca.

There’s some real urgency to Empowered by Hate, Nuclear Warfare are going for the ‘face-melting’ style of thrash. It’s old-school sounding but the quality riffs, bassy hooks & furious drum beats keep things ticking along nicely.

Things slow down slightly for Fear, adding a real groove quality to the guitars & having one of the punchier beats on the entire album.

The middle of the album doesn’t quite hold the attention as much as you’d hope but it’s still exciting stuff. A decent bit of riffing in Warlust, a nice groovy beat in Bite of the Viper & the head-banging crunch of Half Truths.

Those hoping for more innovation & imagination from their thrash should look elsewhere, Nuclear Warfare aren’t playing games. It’s a non-stop assault on the ears that does being to wane as the album comes to a close. It’s not that it starts to go bad, it just becomes tiresome hearing very little variation.

The melodic start to Nuclear Warfare comes as something of a surprise after 8 tracks of constant thrash metal but it’s short lived as the song quickly picks up pace into a blazing aggressive song that is just a couple of minutes too long.

The album wraps up with one final short blast of thrash. Thrash to the Bones doesn’t exactly finish things on a high. It’s as solid you as you might expect at this stage but it’s just not got enough oomph to see things over the finish line in style.

Nuclear Warfare – Empowered by Hate Full Track Listing:

1. After the Battle
2. Let the Hate Reign
3. Mata Com Faca
4. Fear
5. Warlust
6. Bite of the Viper
7. Half Truths
8. A Nice Day
9. Nuclear Warfare
10. Thrash to the Bones

Head over to Nuclear Warfare’s official website to find out more about them & head over to MMD Records store to pick up their music. You can also stream/buy their albums from most major streaming services including Apple Music below. Give the band a like on Facebook & follow them on Twitter!