Our demo of the week for the final days of March 2022 goes to Phoenix radioactive goretet Nuclear Remains. Nothing warms the heart and covers the body in painful blisters like a young, hardworking brutal death metal band spreading the good word of mass death via nuclear annihilation through obnoxious slams, scorched vocals and grooves reminiscent of early Dying Fetus. Time to get your unsuspecting skull spiked into the ground by this crushing maul of a demo!
The band says they all got together last Saturday to answer our questions. They inform us: “Nuclear Remains is made up of guitarist Anthony Fazio, drummer Anthony Buchowski, bassist Gabe Villont, and vocalist Logan Ryan.” Their bassist Gabe explains, “We came together when founding members Anthony, and Anthony messaged Logan and I about starting a death metal band, originally we were going to play some old Morbid Angel/Death osdm stuff but we transitioned to BDM, that’s what gives us our blended sound.”
This natural transformation from ‘regular’ death metal to an ultra brutal kind of death metal means that Nuclear Remains boasts a sound quite novel nowadays, at once old school and brutal.
In case you had forgotten about that lovely ever-looming threat, Nuclear Remains tells us that, as for their moniker, the title of their demo, Radioactive Decomposition, and their whole vibe: “We really grasp the nuclear theme being like the ultimate brutality, conflicting leaders could just let loose and annihilate everyone, and the bombs sheer power and devastating effects of radiation. We also very much dig the old nuclear apocalypse movies from the 80s like The Day After and Threads. A lot of the imagery of devastation and suffering presented in those movies, as well as real test footage and aftermath films of nuclear tests really grasp our attention. So there’s a lot to draw inspiration from.”
When it came to getting together and channeling these morbid energies into music, Nuclear Remains say: “The song writing process for the demo and for us as a band usually starts with guitarist Anthony and drummer, also Anthony, coming up with fast, aggressive, and brutal riffs. That paired with our drummer’s particular style of playing inspired by fast brutal death metal blast beats and groovier laidback parts [inspired by such bands] as Skinless and Dying Fetus.
“The first song written from the demo was ‘Horrific Decapitation,” the band says. “The decision to use a sample was made when we were recording it and we decided to use a clip from The Black Cat (1934). The second song that was written was our opening track following our intro- ‘Consumed by Ash.’ And finally, the third and final song from this demo that was written was our closing track ‘To Walk Among the Dead.’ And the intro track was a clean part that our guitarist wrote and we decided to use it at the beginning along with some samples to really set the tone for our sound and our imagery.”
The band are truly starting out. Just some up-and-comers playing with nuclear waste. They tell us, “Our current rehearsal space is just in Anthony’s garage [presumably the drummer’s], we tried to sound proof it a bit but to little avail, his neighbors probably hate us! We’ve had a few run ins with crazy neighbors and the police at a few of our rehearsals,” they laugh, but can you imagine? Amazing!
When it was time to record Radioactive Decomposition, Gabe, Logan and the Anthonys enlisted their friend friend Xander. They relate to us how it all went down: “The recording process for the demo started out with recording drums for all 3 songs, followed by recording and doubling guitar tracks, recording bass, and finally vocals. We wanted to make sure that we took the steps beforehand to dial in the tones for the guitar and bass, as well as the drums. The measures we took to make it sound old school were working with the fantastic Xander Bridge, this kid is a fucking genius and continues to amaze us. We credit him heavily and are extremely grateful for his help and amazing engineering talents in giving us our unique sound. His producing choices and our songwriting and execution are what make this release sound the way it does.”
They continue, “The only challenges we really faced while recording the demo were having to do multiple takes and trying to finish the session before it got too late at night, even though we kept Xander up past like 1:30 in the morning to the point where he was literally falling asleep at his computer hahaha.”
For those of you who will need more of this sound, Nuclear Remains offers some of their inspirations: “Some of the demos [and albums] that inspired us. Bathe in Entrails by Dying Fetus, Swollen Heaps by Skinless, Cranial Impalement by Disgorge, Demo 2021 by Stabbing, Grizzly Aftermath by Mortal Decay, Perpetual Degradation by Internal Bleeding, and Impaled by Devourment.”
Each member of the band tells us their favorite moment of Radioactive Decomposition:
Gabe: “My bass fill on ‘Horrific Decapitation,’ leading into the final slam part. That last riff is just so groovy and fun to play!”
Anthony F.: “Mine was the recording process as a whole, really amazing seeing the songs we’ve been working on for months come to life and seeing our friends enjoy them, also that fast slam in the middle of ‘Horrific Decapitation’ has to be my favorite riff!”
Logan: “Mine would have to be the end of ‘Horrific Decapitation,’ I just love how slammy and dense it feels, it’s got like a dirty vibe to it.”
Anthony B.: “My favorite part of the demo is the song to walk among the dead, throughout the song it gets more and more aggressive and the intro and ending breakdown really puts it all together and makes a great caveman type beat.”
The band tells us that soon physical incarnation of Radioactive Decomposition will be available albeit unfit for human consumption. “Yes! We plan on getting CDs made relatively soon so that we’ll have them available at shows. We are considering getting tapes made but for now it’s a ‘maybe’ just before we have the hardware for them to get made. But CDs are a definite yes.”
Meanwhile Nuclear Remains are just getting started it seems. “Since the release of our demo, we’ve wasted no time in getting back to work on songwriting, as we already have material written for 3 new songs and plan to record either a split or another EP soon. We also have several shows lined up both in and out of state and also possibly doing a small west coast tour this summer.”
Highly, disgustingly sick! We’ll be there. You will be, too. And remember, you heard Nuclear Remains here first on Demo:listen.
