finally new Nuclear Altar!.. the last keepers of this
original Požega crust flame which was incredibly strong and developed for a such small city during its
golden era in 90s and early 00s and even later in 2010s with appearance of bands like Propast, Masakrist and Nuclear Altar or reforming of Nonsense, Fight Back and Hellback, etc..
a month ago when I heard that they are in studio and
preparing new material I was excited and impatient but at the same time also little worried about how it
will sound considering on latest line up change when they added second guitarist and the fact that they are in studio again first time after their debut proper record "Blessed
Ruins", while all others releases were recorded in heavy d.i.y. style in their
rehearsal room or captured live and you can like it or not but the important part and kind of trademark
of this above mentioned Požega's crust sound and authenticity were exactly those thrashy
d.i.y. recordings..
does all of this had
impact on the newest release? - let’s find up bellow..
if you are familiar with Nuclear Altar's history and have followed their development as a band you know that they are like some old beast which
is struggling in this ugly reality of Slavonian devastated wasteland and just refuse to
give up and die.. they arise again and again after every lost battle and with
every line up change they become stronger, lyrically darker and
darker like they are tired from this nightmare called life but musically they take everything they can alongside the road of
destruction and from simple and classic d-beat hardcore band they become this
monster they are nowadays in their 5th stage of 14-years existence, if I count that well.. actually only the vocalist/bassist and drummer are original members, even the drummer has some pause during one period..
but now new album named "Golet" (not so common word in Croatian which means something like barren wasteland) comes like perfect reward for persistence and not giving
up through all these years.. it consists from all together 11 (mostly) new songs
of brutal and dark crusty d-beat driven hardcore punk, ugly and sincere, luckily not too polished in studio, they had this tendency that the whole thing sounds as similar as
possible they sound live and that’s always praiseworthy here at crucified
freedom hq.. I must admit, on the first few listens it was hard to adjust on new additional guitar sound and production but now after some 96 hours of continuous listening things sets in place
and it all started to have perfect sense..
biggest news here and differences from previous
releases are: first, that songs are not all the same, still few of them are classic short d-beat attacks, in some they added more punkish feel in riffs which came as natural influence from a new guitarist who isn’t originally from crust/metal waters but more from punk-rock spectrum of the underground universe, while on the other side some are more lengthy and differently build
and structured, even with some melodies in traces.. for songs like "Golet", "Zvijer", "Svete Ruševine" (actually old "Blessed Ruins" with different lyrics and slightly changed) and "Ustanak" we can say that they are classic Nuclear
Altar stuff, "Grafit" and "Nepodoban" have great, simple but deep lyrics and fckd up message while "Pakao" is story for
itself with unusual length of 4 and half minutes and absolutely brilliant beginning
and hellish atmosphere.. those listed songs I would point out as the best to me
but the rest is great also, there's this feel that the whole album has a story, it's almost conceptual and not a single song is excessive, there's absolutely no any fillers here..
and second thing, lyrics of all new songs are
now on Croatian and are darker than deepest parts of hell, written in this "epic" poetic tone full of blackness and hopelessness.. and from those things is clear that Nuclear Altar now on these recordings sounds even more authentic and original..
album finishes just as it should with 2 old songs as a tribute to the roots of local d.i.y. crust sound and one scene
which is slowly disappearing but still fighting like demon of some past, almost forgotten times.. album art is just the final touch on the whole story, it's made in already recognizable Kktz's dark and minimalistic style, it completes the whole thing in apocalyptic tone and fits to the sound of this record perfectly..
it's incredibly hard to classify in which genre Nuclear Altar fits entirely so I won't even try, but if you are looking for your new favorite d-beat hardcore crust punk band essentially influenced with early hardcore punk ugliness from the 80s by acts like Anti Cimex or Doom inspired crust punk wave of 90s, all executed in U.B.R.'s harsh hardcore rawness but with something different and more authentic approach inspired by nothingness and cruelty of the present times, then this is for you!..
for now album is available only in digital form and can be
found on
bc and
yt, but there will hopefully be some tapes released in the future..
anyhow, Golet is here and it takes no prisoners, so be aware!..
