Condemned To Live – Nuke First…Ask Questions Later (2009)

cover

Every once in a while we get tired of listening to over produced albums Death Metal that sound so good that sometimes we even forget we are listening to Metal, something that has to be brutal and aggressive, not pretty sounding. For those occasions we have found the perfect solution: Condemned To Live’s debut album “Nuke First…Ask Questions Later”.

The band hails from San Jose, California, and it’s formed by a very peculiar group of individuals (so they claim). Featuring a Porn Star and a Cannabis Cup participant as the most notable one, the band plays Death Metal with some Grind and Black Metal influences. With 8 tracks and 35 minutes of music they have a solid calling card with “Nuke First” and hopefully will allow them to generate enough buzz for them to keep releasing albums like this.

The band’s sound is not complex or fancy; it’s just a down to earth rendition of traditional Death Metal with the classic vibe from bands of the 90’s. Since track one you can see the band’s classical influences with a very powerful track that will remind you of the moshing days of your youth (or current times for our younger readers). The guitar distortion is very crunchy, perfectly fitting for this type of release.

The growls are top notch, something that makes or breaks a DM release. Alongside the crushing riffs, they sound like any other great band of the genre, making Condemned To Live a very intelligent band when it comes to exploiting their strong points. The first four songs keep a similar DM amongst them.

In “God Below”, the fifth song in this CD, we hear the band create a very furious Black Metal anthem. This high pace is maintained in their next show but sweet song: “Destroy The Deceiver”, but they combine their DM influences more in this track. The rest of the album goes back into the chugging DM style that we like this band for.

In general “Nuke First” is a great first release for a very good sounding DM band from the USA. If the band keeps their raw sound and their creativity in making DM songs, they are off in a good direction. Experimentation is good in most cases, but it’s usually better if it’s incorporated it to the overall sound of the band, not when you make one song that sounds completely different than the rest of the album and stick it in the middle of the release. Other than this WTF incident, “Nuke First” is a pretty solid release from a promising band.

Band: Condemned To Live Album: Nuke First…Ask Questions Later
Label: Unsigned

Release: August 2009

Official Site myspace
Genre: Death Metal

Country: USA

Rating: 83/100
Year: 
Label: 
Genre: 

Recent Image Galleries