Metal Monday: N is for Nuclear Death

Two bands today representing the letter “N”. First up, Napalm Death, the UK grindcore/death metal pioneers. Influenced by punk and hardcore like so many other metal bands getting their start in the eighties, theyt took it further than most. In the first video, if you blink you miss their record breaking song “You Suffer”:



They got a bit more “mainstream” later on in their career. Here’s an example of their later style:



The other “N” band is Nuclear Assault, which you could call an Anthrax spinoff as Danny Lilker, ex-Anthrax bassist was a founding member. They of course play thrash metal with their earliest records having a decidedly apocalyptic flavour. No wonder considering the band was formed at the height of the Reagan era, when it really did seem like the missiles would start flying any minute now. Now unlike James Nicoll, who watches Threads as escapism, I still get nightmares thinking to much about nuclear holocaust and some of their songs I just cannot play therefore. This is “Game Over”:



And this is “Critical Mass”:



Metal Monday interlude

It was my year’s resident metalhead who made me realise back in high school that classical music is something that can actually be enjoyed rather than something that needs avoiding. And to be sure, much of what metal does is stole^wliberated from classical music, especially from opera, especially especially from Wagnerian opera. What after all is more metal than a long spun out story of warring gods, magic rings and chicks in chainmail bikinis?

The one problem is, that while you might think Kreative Destruktion‘s twenty minute song about the Battle of Wesnoth drags on a bit, taking in the Ring Cycle takes twenty hours. It can therefore be a bit hard to keep focused and keep track of the story. Luckily there’s Anna Russell to put you straight on the players and the play both: