Album Review: Nuclear Tomb – Epoch Inhumane (Rotted Life Records)

Baltimore, MD’s weirdo thrash stalwarts, Nuclear Tomb, are back with their new full-length album, ‘Epoch Inhumane’, out June 12th on Rotted Life Records.

An explosive listen that delivers all manner of thrash-based goodness, Epoch Inhumane might seem like a fairly ‘basic bitch’ at first, but the more time spent in its company, the more it shows off a brighter, ballsier, and bullish approach to speed and heaviness.

Not at first though. No, to begin with it’s an unrelenting blast of intense noise courtesy of Watch the Skies. There’s a bit of groove, but this is thrashing ferocity through and through. Where things really get interesting is with Falling Out the World of Lies, a track with a lot of technical flair and twists on the well-worn formula.

One of many unique sounding efforts and sitting comfortably alongside the likes of Unbowed & Averse. A track with a cool Slayer-like intro that turns into something with notable bite as it goes on. As well as a track like Faithless Continuum, which can best be described as manic, and a track like Broken Promise, Barren Essence, which comes with a blackened edge and some fantastic guitar soloing.

That’s the halfway point, and there’s no denying that what Nuclear Tomb produce in the first half will leave many feeling breathless. It’s thrash, but not as we know it.

The second half doesn’t disappoint either. Not when things go back to basics with the crunching head-banging inducing harshness of Lifeless Transformation. A personal favourite because it is so direct. Whereas there’s an exciting air of freshness around Butcher’s Lament as it gets quite instrumentally inventive and Terminally Emboldened serves as a sharp shock to the system.

Any thought that Nuclear Tomb had hit the apex of their creative abilities with everything that came before is immediately put the bed with the penultimate track, The Coward’s Curse. Where melody smoothly transitions into the most chaotic sounds heard so far. Thrash metal with an injection of death metal, speed, and madness. Brilliant? Or just plain weird? I’ll leave it up to you to decide, but I dig the hell out of it.

Which brings us to the title track, the finale and the longest track on the album. A track that is very imaginative but doesn’t quite grab my attention in the same way. It’s quite disjointed and weirder than ever. When it speeds up, my blood did start to pump harder in my veins, but there’s better on the album.

Which really is an exciting effort with tons of interesting aspects standing out in a genre that isn’t well known for its twists and turns.

Nuclear Tomb – Epoch Inhumane Track Listing:

1. Watch The Skies
2. Falling Out the World of Lies
3. Unbowed & Averse
4. Faithless Continuum
5. Broken Promise, Barren Essence
6. Lifeless Transformation
7. Butcher’s Lament
8. Terminally Emboldened
9. The Coward’s Curse
10. Epoch Inhumane

Links

LinkTree | Facebook | Instagram | Rotted Life