Nuclear Thrash

Atomic took part in the foundation of the Czech thrash metal scene in the late-80’s alongside other pioneers (Torr, Moriorr, Kryptor, Debustrol, Arakain), and like the lot of them spent said decade on a demo stage. Yes, the Czechs woke up relatively late for the more aggressive side of the metal scene, and for metal in general, as for quite a while it was only the veterans Citron that were operating on full-throttle in the small republic with their merry-go-round hard’n heavy anthems. Our friends here, though, showed some admirable ambition from the get-go their debut demo (the sophomore was a re-recording of it) featuring an appetizing blend of power, speed, and thrash that was going to produce a resounding echo if properly brought to the next level, with the better sound quality and all the rest.

Entered the 90’s, and things started moving way faster over there with each of the mentioned representatives reaching the official release stage in no time. The album reviewed here got noticed immediately thanks to the bombastic title; it only remained to be seen whether music-wise it delivered in the same destructive way… well, not exactly as the band have voted to preserve the power/speed/thrash mixture from their demo stage, and there’s not much hard-hitting thrash to be encountered, truth be told. And, it was misleading from another perspective, too, as the guys sing in Czech the entire time, no traces of English whatsoever… except probably on another, this time song-title (“S.O.S.”).

“Pulnocni Hvezda” introduces the amalgam with all the three styles presented in equal dozes, but the approach is not as inspired as the one on the demo(s), regardless of the presence of two tracks from it, and the guitars come with a somewhat mechanical echo which doesn’t scream “nu trends” immediately, but furtively sides with the pre-arranged, anti-spontaneous feel of the album. The mentioned “S.O.S.” calls for help more vigorous thrashy rhythms, and its sprightly galloping vigour injects a doze of vitality into the proceedings which are drowned in monotony on the boring one-dimensional mid-pacer “Zakony Davu”, the guys recapturing some ground with the more interesting progressive diverser “Cas”, this one not surprisingly one of the mentioned cuts from the demo(s).

“Hledam Svou Tvar” can even pass for a semi-technical shredder with the bolder tempo changes and the more adventurous fretwork, and this is where things begin to look a bit better not without the help of the other demo reminder “Nuklearni Svet” which intense rhythms bode the winds of death even initially. “Opus pro Smrtihlava” varies the delivery with a few stomping accumulations although it’s pretty much wild intense speed/thrash that dominates the scenery. A very similar situation on “Zapomenuti Hrdinove” which goes deeper into progressive territory although the overlong slower pounding etude in the middle does a lot to kill the inertia. “Ikaros” closes the saga in a downbeat, peaceful balladic manner giving an opportunity to the emotional high-strung vocalist to pour his heart, and the man doesn’t miss it unleashing some of the most poignant, glass-breaking falcettos this side of King Diamond.

It’s interesting to note that the sound quality hasn’t been improved drastically; there’s this muffled reverberation which follows the guitars wherever they may roam, strangely accentuating on the mechanical clicks, those not doing justice to the strictly classic approach. The band seldom try to break a trite and repeated formula, going through the motions not very perturbed, the singer’s over-the-top dramatism starkly contrasting with the pedestrian, workman-like flow of the music. The few more stylish moments are again re-workings of past, already familiar material, another testimony that not much progress, if any at all, has been witnessed here.

“Breakpoint” wasn’t exactly a breakpoint but wasn’t a flop, either, the guys sticking to the same formula, and some kudos should be paid them for not betraying the old school approach. That inevitably came, six years later, with “Labyrint” which would be a total waste of time for those who liked the first two instalments, sticking to generic blatant numetal gimmicks for over an hour. “Grandprix” was marginally better bringing back some of the energy from the earlier days with a couple of more intense headbangers, but was still immersed in the 90’s post-thrash mentality for most of the time, far from any of the lofty standards that have been keeping the fanbase on the tip of their toes through the new millennium. The guys are yet to live up to their earth-shattering name; maybe with the next showing they would finally be able to win the nuclear grandprix.