Album Review :
Hand Of Fire - Nuclear Sunrise
By Mason Beard in Reviews | 3 Comments
Hand Of Fire has released their debut album! Nuclear Sunrise has finally been unleashed, after three years of waiting.
“Let the Killings Begin”, the album’s debut single, is the first track. After three years of waiting and then realizing that the album was titled Nuclear Sunrise, I felt kind of stupid. I thought that “Let the Killings Begin” was to be the title of the album. (It was.) It appears I was wrong. The track starts off a lot different than the original single. There’s a long intro of just slow backing vocals and some grunge guitars. Then it jumps into the track. The song sounds as if it was remastered and rerecorded. The song sounds pretty different from the original.
“Some Will Say” has brutal starting off point with some thrashing guitars and some slower drums. There’s some screams and, shockingly, some singing. The solo in the middle of the song reminds me of Slayer and Death Requisite. Those two are not really bands that link together, but the solos are insane. ‘Some will pick up the Cross. Some will bury their loss.’
“The Prophecy” is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album. The track is fast, brutal and spiritual, without a doubt. Guitarist Tiago Souza’s work is incredible to say the least. Thrashing all of the place. If you need a song to work out to, this is it.
“Reap What You Sow” is a slower song, but is basically giving the message we’ve heard for years. It’s mainly about America not reaping what we’ve sown. It reminds me of the As They Sleep song “To The Republic”, where they say ‘One nation under God. That doesn’t seem to be the case. One nation under fraud. Emancipate this dying race.’ It sounds as though we’ve lost sight in what we should be focused on.
The title track ,”Nuclear Sunrise”, is on fire. Literally. That’s a majority of the lyrics about. ‘Well, I’m Hand of Fire, a ghost unseen. Well I’m a Hand of Fire, and I’ll make you believe.’ The song reminds me of Megadeth just a little bit. Lyrically, the track seems to be about the apocalypse and all the suffering and death that is the rapture.
“Bleeding Out” is a very guitar motivated song. Very flashy with how it’s intro. Once the song gets into the bridge, Bill Davies’ drums go full speed. This is probably the fastest drumming on this album. A lot of tom fills. ‘Before you bow down before me! You must die…you must die…you must die.’
“Burn It Down” is about the church and the hypocrisy within according to Last Rites interview with Vocalist Jim Settle (ex-Tantrum of the Muse).
The lyrics for “Burn It Down” are talking about burning the Church of today to the ground. “The critics” refers to judgmental Christians, and “holy riders” means those that coast through life making profits off of the name of God.
The church of today is not what God intended it to be like. Man has made this into a business and it all revolves around numbers to generate money, and a lot of it. We have seen over the years these pastors flying in private jets with huge mansions bringing in enough money to take care of a village of starving children, using God’s name to generate profit but not use it for his kingdom. I am a believer, but not in the church. That’s why I say burn it down to the ground and walk away from it.
If you want a little more of Settle’s opinion of the church and the Christian name, I recommend going to my website. Musically, however, the song is super fast and, seemingly, pays some homage to Metal Church. The song reminds me of a track of their album The Dark.
“Walk It Off” is once again, a great guitar motivated track. The backing vocals are some of the coolest I’ve heard, like right beside The Showdown. The vocals are brutal in their delivery and the lyrics, from what I can make out, seem to be about survival. The solo in the middle certainly sets Tiago’s presence on the album in stone.
Nuclear Sunrise is probably one of the best albums I’ve heard of 2017. Definitely one of the best thrash metal albums I’ve heard ever. This album is definitely going to be a centerpiece in the Rottweiler Records discography.
FFO: Slayer, Metallica, Vengeance Rising, Metal Church
I’ll be ordering the physical copy here soon. I never listen to digital releases so it may be a little while yet.
I appreciate the review. Thanks for adding so much content that’s up my alley!
This said pre-order on Rottweiler’s website when I ordered it three days ago but it already showed up today. So, it’s definitely out already. Listening through it, it’s an amazing “meat and potatoes” thrash album, expertly done. Reminds me of Laaz Rocket, Powermad, Intruder style thrash. Those were “third tier” thrash bands with a “speed metal” bend to what they did but they put out some incredible material. This is that kind of album. It’s instantly likable and essentially perfect beginning to end. On a side note, Jim’s comments on the church are unfortunate to me. I definitely get it… Read more »
Mason, wile i like yur enthusiasm, thers no way that this “a centerpiece in the Rottweiler Records discography”. Perhaps yur 4getin about sum hily undarated lil bands called “soul embraced”+ “pantokrator”? Lol. I even pref “final surenda” ova this. I giv this a 3.5, maybe a 4, def not a “5/ 5”. Gud/ solid debut tho. Maybe we wil get mor songs on the next 1.