Nuclear Power Trio – Wet Ass Plutonium (Recommendation)

What better way to achieve world peace than having three presidents of nuclear powers, Kim-Jong Un, Putin und Trump, decide to take on the enemies of humanity with face-melting riffs, trumpets and hand out ass-kickings? Exactly, the album Wet Ass Plutonium by the mighty Nuclear Power Trio does just that.

Apart from the satirical aspect of the group’s public appearance, I’ve rarely heard a record in recent months that flows so smoothly. It’s a lot of fun, it’s very energetic but never monotonous. This album is largely just drums, guitars and bass. Although being the main ingredients, they are garnished with trumpets, trombones and synth elements to keep things fresh. The interplay of the guitar and the bass is so dominant that they can easily be the substitution of the vocals. The riffs are absolutely top notch, especially when it comes to the guitar and bass solos.

What is always striking is the interweaving of their personal elements with synth elements, but also with small solos and prominent sounds of Latin American music through wind instruments or an acoustic guitar. I really don’t know any band that plays a similar sound at the moment. Interestingly, passages of songs often reminded me of Japanese action games around the 2000s on PlayStation, often heard in main-menu and some in-game music had similar riffs.

Nuclear Power Trio corporates such a high quality on their instruments that you can feel how much passion for music (and world saving) they have with every note they play. I would almost certainly have had the same reaction after the first listen if I didn’t know what the cover or one of their music videos looked like. The satire is a feature, but not a musical pillar. I can recommend every instrumental fan to listen to the Nuclear Power Trio, the 37 minutes fly by.