"Weirdo thrash." A term coined by few, but personified by many– Coroner, Pestilence, and Voivod among them. These legendary acts blended bewilderingly progressive attitudes with carnivorous thrash metal, and stood out as some of the most memorable bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s to do so. Their prowess has inspired today's Chernobyl-esque progressive thrash group Nuclear Tomb who are back with a vengeance, not resting on the laurels of their debut LP, Terror Labyrinthian. The record received major accolades for successfully conjuring Rush's alternate universe, wherein they weaved crust punk and mathcore into progressive rock. Their newest effort, Epoch Humane, is an installment crucial to furthering any listener's Rush-meets-thrash dreams.
Epoch Humane is simply overpowering. In just thirty-six minutes, Nuclear Tomb MacGyvered four simple instruments into an onslaught of terror, at times unorthodoxly dormant. The record's extremely dense nature results in a dynamically devilish experience, equal parts fun and demanding. The record doesn't ease you in with a one-minute opening sequence or a slow buildup: as soon as it starts, you're thrust into a loud dystopian hellscape akin to the album cover depicting ridiculous entities, (un)natural disasters, and a sense of all-around despair.
Like the artwork's "protagonist," you're clinging to life while listening to searing instrumental blasts and Michael Brown's raspy vocals. The little technological aid assisting your final breaths is doomed to be ingested by a purple monster, and Nuclear Tomb translates this feeling into music. Tracks like "Watch The Skies" shove riff upon riff down your throat not caring where it may end up. The solos are endless, too. They personify everything from warpy heavy metal ("Lifeless Transformation") to technical progressive rock (almost every track).
Death metal appears frequently in the midst of the plodding riffage. Not slow enough to cease momentum, yet many tracks feature downtuned, guitar-forward parts. Another influence is crust punk, blatantly heard courtesy of the sub-three-minute track "Terminally Emboldened." Shouted vocals, accelerated tempos, and everything opposite of other tracks. The strong variety of sounds works scarily and beautifully together.
Yet somehow, somehow, Nuclear Tomb finds adequate time for calm segments and acoustic introductions. For such a high-speed album, most tracks start out–even only for a few seconds–serenely. Some, like the opening song, begin with an analog horror-type sample, while others, like the closing "Epoch Humane," slowly evolve into the chaos. Even the middle of songs like "Falling Out the World of Lies" hosts cinematically dreadful moments contrary to the norm. These moments construct a more progressive record and a more enjoyable listen. Admittedly, thrash metal isn't the most varied subgenre of the metal umbrella, so any modern band to go against the stream like Nuclear Tomb deserves all the praise they receive.