Album Review: "Sentient" by Nucleus

Sentient

During the last gasps of the Cold War, well the last decade or so, the United States and the USSR weren't doing anything to show the other that their way of life was better than the other one.

Both the USA and the USSR struggled mightily to arm themselves more heavily than the other. Saved By The Bell addressed this when Kelly couldn't go to the prom because world peace broke out.

So her father no longer had a job building weapons. St. Louis lost a major source of employment when McDonnell Douglas no longer was building fighter jets by the score.

The rivalry of the two nations was the stuff of legend. It has really shaped quite a bit of our culture here in the States. Just thinking of pop culture alone, how many places were there in 1985 when without the Soviets popping up. In the end, it was simply might makes right.

Nucleus

All the (dive) bombs, all the blast(ing beats), and all of the gore won't make a band better.

Heavy Metal has always had a bit of an arms race of its own. So many bands tried to be heavier than their contemporaries as though that would make them a better band.

Look at Meshuggah. This is all about to veer straight into the court of my opinion and I'm the judge, jury, and executioner here.

8 strings, tuned down to -Z flat, and just heavy boy, but where are the songs? Where is the hook?

Enter Nucleus.

They're one of the New Wave of American Death Metal bands. (My term that I just created unless someone else is already using it then they stole it from me via time machine.) NWOADM is kind of like a sheep without a shepherd. It correlates to the Tampa Bay death metallers because of the vocals, but the rest is a bit different.

Instead of just trying to grunt out the scariest sounds, Nucleus has a bit more of an other worldly approach. The guitars are tuned down, but to reasonable levels. There are even two four drum beats on this record.

Instead of basing a song around being heavy, being scary, or the fastest blast beats Nucleus writes songs with power, dynamics, and force. There is no heavy for the sake of heavy.

There's only quality music.

The drums are powerful and true, the vocals are scary because of their inflections, and the guitar solos are played with purpose.

If this is their debut, their third album is going to be an instant classic.

Release: 4/15/16
Genre: New Wave of American Death Metal
Label: Unspeakable Axe Records
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