Plague & Game Over

Nuclear Assault | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Relativity
• ASIN: B000003C55
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,782 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Live, Suffer, Die

2. Sin

3. Cold Steel

4. Betrayal

5. Radiation Sickness

6. Hang the Pope

7. After the Holocaust

8. Mr. Softee Theme

9. Stranded in Hell

10. Nuclear War

11. My America

12. Vengeance

13. Brain Death

14. Game Over

15. Nightmares

16. (You Figure It Out)

17. Justice

18. The Plague

19. Cross of Iron

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great late 80's Thrash, June 23, 2000

By 

D. Read "Maximumdread" (GA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Plague & Game Over (Audio CD)

If Survive were in print, then I would recommend that Nuclear Assault CD over this one, but that's not to say Game Over/The Plague is not worth owning. This is late 80's style thrash with a definite hardcore punk aspect to it. Short songs, simple riffs, nearly continuous double bass pedals going. Everything is infused with the nuclear apocalypse imagery that you find in so much 80s metal. The songs are mostly very simple and short, and the lyrics often make me chuckle while listening. A great example is "Radiation Sickness", in which the band screams over and over again, "Die--Slow--Death". Many songs, like "Hang the Pope", are obviously deliberately humorous, but it's hard to tell with many other tunes if they're joking or not. A look at the song titles tells the tale: Sin, Betrayal, Vengeance, Justice, The Plague, Brain Death, Nightmares, and Stranded in Hell. You gotta love this stuff. Lyrically, Nuclear Assault reminds me a lot of bands like At War and Laaz Rockit. It almost makes you miss the unique brand of cold war apocalypse fear that gripped American culture in the late 80s after that TV movie "The Day After".

All of these tunes are great, even if many of them rely on somewhat weak riffs. Anthony Bramante is no slouch, but he's no Scott Ian either. If you are interested in 80s thrash, then you have to check out some Nuclear Assault, especially if you are already into bands like Anthrax, Testament, and S.O.D. A few other reviewers have commented on the production quality of these songs, but I do not have a problem with it. Could it be better? Sure. Are they up to today's super-slick standards? No. But the production is solid, clean, and full.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Thrash Classic, February 4, 2005

By 

Ernesto Catalan Valdez "There is no try..." (Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Plague & Game Over (Audio CD)

"Game Over" came out in 1986, a cornerstone year for the thrash genre. SLAYER, MEGADETH, METALLICA, DARK ANGEL, KREATOR, FLOTSAM & JETSAM, DESTRUCTION, all released their creative peaks during 1986 and NUCLEAR ASSAULT is no exception. With John Connelly (Guitar/Vocals) and Dan Lilker (Bass) coming from an earlier version of ANTHRAX and S.O.D. (in Lilke's case) it's no surprise this album sounds very close to what those bands had done. The hardcore punk elements are evident in songs such as "Hang The Pope", with its blast beats and S.O.D. type of humor, but other songs like "Sin", "Betrayal" and "Stranded in Hell" are more in the traditional thrash vein, with fast, technical guitar playing and double bass drumming. The production sounds very clear and powerful, but the guitars lack the punch of future releases (they sound as if they had very little distortion...hard to believe from ex-ANTHRAX members!). It's sad to see such a worthy album released as a "two in one" package. Granted, on this CD you get "The Plague", the band's next mini album after "Game Over", and a good mini album it is, but the CD's artwork and bargain packaging is truly disappointing. If anything, this abum should have been released ALONG with the band's debut EP, which came out some months before "Game Over". I would have given "Game Over/The Plague" 5 stars, but, as I said before, the packaging really diminishes the greatness of these 2 thrash gems. If you're not bother by this, you'll do no wrong in having this in your metal collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars missing track, November 1, 2006

By 

anubus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plague & Game Over (Audio CD)

The cassette of Game Over had a track called Lesbians which isn't here. I think these two releases should be on two separate discs. They should issue Game Over with the bonus tracks "Final Flight" and "Demolition" which were on the Brain Death 12". The Plague should get its own disc with maybe some archival bonus tracks. The music is great though.