BAND OF THE DAY: NUCLËAR FRÖST

If we can say anything about Brazil's Nuclëar Fröst, is that they probably didn't take into account the pronunciation implications of all those umlauts. Sure, they look hella mass rad on your t-shirt and patch jacket, but somewhere right now in Germany - the Home of Heavy Metal itself, the throne room of Blind Guardian - someone is referring to them as Nucleeer Frooost, which sort of makes them sound like a fruit drink for kids, rather than some sort of shit-kicking biker clan brotherhood of the night \m/ or whatever it is everyone thinks they are these days.

In fact, you should probably start saying Motörhead as if the umlaut actually mattered, and start correcting people, even if I don't know them: "Sorry... look, ah, I don't mean to be rude, but it's actually MoTOOORhead, yeah? Can you say it for me?"

If any of that troubles the Sao Paulo four-piece, there's no outward sign of it - although it no doubt weighs heavily on the shoulders of drumm- sorry, Thunder Machinist Tom Thräshcrüst. Whatever their crimes against language, and pretension, Nuclëar Fröst more than make amends by existing in that decreasing circle of reactionary, spirit of '86 death/thrash that actually seems driven by something other than an urge to be namechecked by OMIGODERIKFROMWATAIN, appear on Fenriz' blog or ape the arbitrary handful of clichés, conventions and masturbation techniques that make up 'metalpunk'. Like Hellhammer with Slayer's lust for galloping Nazgûl riffs instead of oppressive despair, or early Onslaught with Jeff Becerra instead of their post-NWOBHM falsetto, on their absolutely ripping 15-track debut 'Nuclear Winter Gloom', as evidenced by the respectable company they keep, sharing a split with Italy's gloriously daft and over-constructed Children of Technology and lending their drumm- sorry, Thunder Machine to Brazil's own Toxic Holocaust, Whipstriker.