Nuclear Death was an American

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band formed in 1986 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. They were a very early example of a band in the

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

genre with a female vocalist,Prato, Greg
"Nuclear Death"

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. Retrieved on May 16, 201. Lori Bravo. Their style, which drummer Joel Whitfield described as "deathrashardcorextreme music", was compared to bands like Repulsion and '' Scum''-era

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mi ...

."Nuclear Death – Bride Of Insect"
''

Decibel The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whos ...

'', July 28, 2012. Retrieved on May 16, 2017

History

Nuclear Death were formed on March 23, 1986, by Lori Bravo (vocals, bass guitar), Phil Hampson (guitar), and Joel Whitfield (drums) while they were in high school. Nuclear Death cited

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Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

The Plasmatics The Plasmatics were an American punk rock and heavy metal band formed by Rod Swenson and Wendy O. Williams in New York City in 1978. They were a controversial group known for chaotic, destructive live shows and outrageous theatrics. These inc ...

Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that titl ...

, and Discharge as their influences. Their first demo, ''Wake Me When I'm Dead'', was released later that same year, receiving positive reviews from American and overseas zines. They were notable as at the time very few death metal artists had female singers. Their second demo, ''Welcome to the Minds of the Morbid'', followed in 1987, on the back of which Nuclear Death signed a contract with Richard Campos from

Wild Rags Wild Rags Records was an independent record label and store located in Montebello, California. It was founded in 1986 by Ricardo Campos, better known as Richard C. Wild Rags Records was known as "The Worlds Smallest But Heaviest Record Label." Wil ...

, a

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

and record dealer in

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. In 1991, the band released their more controversial work, entitled ''Carrion for Worm'', containing many songs considered to be in bad taste, such as "The Human Seed", "Lurker in the Closet: A 'Fairy' Tale", and "Greenflies". ''Carrion for Worm'' featured vocals by

Chris Reifert Chris Reifert (born February 23, 1968) is an American death metal musician. He is the founder, vocalist, and drummer of Autopsy (band), Autopsy. He was previously a founding member of Abscess (band), Abscess, and drummer for Death (metal band), ...

, singer from popular death metal band

Autopsy An autopsy (also referred to as post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of deat ...

, on two songs, "Cathedral of Sleep" and "Vampirism". On May 23, 1992, Nuclear Death played a notorious concert in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, with label partners

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. Later that year they released ''For Our Dead'', a four-track single containing a rerecorded version of 1987's "

The Third Antichrist ''The Third Antichrist'' is the third full-length album by the Swedish blackened death metal band Necrophobic. It was recorded and mixed at Sunlight studios in Stockholm, Sweden December 1998 – June 1999, and released by Black Mark Production ...

" from ''Welcome to the Minds of the Morbid''. After the break-up of Nuclear Death, Lori went on to form a new band, Raped, in 2002. Joel Whitfield joined Eroticide in 1991. After leaving the band in 1992, Phil was in Eroticide (1996 to 1998), and Whorror (2000 to 2002). In late 2013, Phil started Feral Viscera. He currently continues to record as Feral Viscera, but decided to re-form Whorror (along with original vocalist Donn Sullivan and original drummer, Mike Wyatt (Genocaust).

Recognition

Nuclear Death's 1990 debut album ''Bride of Insect'' was listed in ''

Decibel magazine ''Decibel'' is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since September 2004. It is currently the only monthly metal music magazine published in North America. Its sections include Upfront, Features, Revi ...

'' "Hall of Fame" as entry No. 90. The entry says:

Members

;Last known lineup * Lori Bravo – vocals, bass, guitar (1986–2000) ;Past members * Joel Whitefield – drums (1986–1990) * Phil Hampson – guitar (1986–1992) * Steve Cowen – drums, keyboards (1990–1996)

Discography

* 1988 – ''Caveat''

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

* 1990 – ''Bride of Insect'' LP (

) * 1991 – ''Carrion for Worm'' LP (

) * 1992 – ''For Our Dead'' EP/cassette tape (

) * 1992 – ''All Creatures Great and Eaten'' cassette tape * 1996 – ''The Planet Cachexial'' CD (Cat's Meow Records) * 2000 – ''Harmony Drinks of Me'' CD (Cat's Meow Records)

DVDs

* ???? – ''Unalive in Texas''

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

* ???? – ''The Profligacy Video''

References

External links

*
Bride of Insect/Carrion for Worm review on Vampire Magazine

Bride of Insect/Carrion for Worm review on VS Webzine
{{Authority control American death metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 2000 Musical groups from Phoenix, Arizona Heavy metal musical groups from Arizona American musical quartets 1986 establishments in Arizona