Interview With Afonso Veiga Of Nuklear Infektion

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed Nuklear Infektion's crushing debut Ep, ''Weapons Of Massive Genocide''. It managed to annihilate any simple, boring retro thrash band out there, showing that these Portuguese monsters can conjure up seriously killer thrash. Yes, I'm aware that it's an impossible task to be able to keep up with the current thrash scene, but you better get off your lazy ass and grab this Ep, because it's definitely some mighty thrash done right. After my review, I managed to catch up with guitarist Afonso Veiga and did an interview. 

LMZ-How did you form the band?
We formed in the beginning of 2011, when me (Afonso) met André at a Destruction gig in the end of 2010, and he told me that he was looking for people to start a thrash metal band. He already had found a singer (Tio) and he had some friends to join in at both bass (Rúben) and drums (Tiago).
Later we had to find a new bass player, because Ruben wasn't a big fan of old school Thrash. Diogo joined in.
Before he joined we recorded a demo track of our first song WE'RE ON COMMAND, with programmed drums and me on the bass.
Some months after we played our first gig and after that Tiago had to leave, because he already had a band, and Hugo joined in, to play drums.

After that we played some local shows and began the recording process of our debut EP.

LMZ-What were your primary influences while developing your sound?
Basically Old School Thrash Metal, like Slayer, Exodus, Vio-Lence, Demolition Hammer, old Sepultura, etc...
And some other bands like Obituary, Motörhead, etc...

LMZ-What were the reactions like to your debut EP, ''Weapons Of Massive Genocide''?
We had some pretty good reviews, better than I expected, actually.
The fans liked it a lot too, and the reactions live were pretty good too.
Too bad local bands are more interested in talking crap than supporting, haha.

LMZ-Do you think you have improved sound-wise when we compare your EP to your your previous demo?
Definitely.
Our first track, WE'RE ON COMMAND, was too over-the-place.
For the EP, we wanted to improve the songs structures as well has to give a certain identity to each track.

LMZ-What are your thoughts on the Portuguese metal scene?
Though there aren't a lot of Thrash Metal bands, there are some pretty good bands.
Unfortunately, as I said before, most of the bands are always backstabbing the others and talking crap. Atleast there are some pretty cool bands too, with awesome people.

LMZ-Are any plans for a full-lenght album in sight?
We're focusing now on promoting our EP, but I'm already writing some new riffs, and we have already some new ideas. Maybe during the summer we'll start working more on new songs, but now we just want to thrash every possible venue.
                                                                                                                         
LMZ-Now that you're done with the EP, I suppose you'll focus on doing shows for a while. Do you plan on touring?
Yeah, as I said we want to promote our release. We got some pretty good gigs. We are playing a fest with HAVOK in June, and some other venues and fests.

LMZ-Any final words before we conclude this interview?
Thank you for the interest.
For any promoter interested in us or if you wanna buy a physical copy of our debut EP, hit us up at nuklear.infektion.official@gmail.com.
Stay tuned for more info at our facebook page:
www.facebook.com/NuklearInfektion.
Cheerz!

Nuklear Infektion-Weapons Of Massive Genocide

Over the last decade, there has been an abnormal amount of retro-thrash groups emerging and releasing albums or EP’s right away, and then gradually end up being garbage due their huge lack of originality. Countless countries gave birth to an irrelevant amount of these retro-thrash bands, yet Portugal, for some reason has not brought forth any acts that were really worth listening. Not only that, but Portugal also lacks a strong metal scene in general, and I think Nuklear Infektion can really create a certain buzz in the Portuguese underground. Their demo, which was previously released, was fairly interesting an could be dubbed an another aspect of retro-thrash, but I certainly didn't expect this EP. It didn't necessarily blow me away, but the vicious, vivacious thrash madness here was something that drove me insane right away, and it also came with a strong arsenal of riffs, made from cold, hard steel.

Don't let the misspelled band name drown you in ridicule, because judging a the book by its cover is only the first mistake you'll do, and the consequences won't be pretty. This short, concise EP marches towards the listener with crushing, technical and headbang friendly riffs directly after the first signal of impact, without any delay. As I said, the riffs on this album come in a healthy abundance an all of them are equally tasty and sharp. The band can display good musicianship with some of their more technically proficient riffs and at the same time, they can scourge the whole battlefield with filthy, old school thrash, played in the vein of Vio-lence, Morbid Saint, Kreator and alike, and the best part about the EP is that the band also bestirs these technical, catchy riffs with the completely devastating death/thrash chompers, forming a unique wave of riffs that can sink their hooks into the listeners' flesh with no deviation, thus pulling them towards a chaotic orgy of headbanging insanity. ''We're On Command'' and ''Progress' Holocaust'' feature some creative, fun and catchy riffs played in arabic patterns, while ''The Dark Passenger'' is a furious track of pure death/thrashing mayhem, all keeping the listener hooked the whole way through with fresh riffs and arabic solos popping out of nowhere, spraying the music withe energy.

I love the ways the vocals burst through all of the chaotic riffing and scream with anger, though I can't help but notice that they can't be heard too well, simply because they sound as if they're being held back. They sound muffled, nonetheless still very vigorous. The vocal problem is nothing that can't be solved within the next release, and with even more pummeling riffs that were promised by the band, the malignancy and prominence of Nuklear Infektion will rise dramatically within the Portuguese underground metal scene. I can see almost no difference between this EP and ''Eternal Nightmare'', or any other straightforward, thrashing album. This EP's lethal and it shows that this band can evolve into something ferocious, and while it doesn't offer anything very innovative, it easily crushes all that modern thrash metal bullshit.

Highlights:

The Dark Passenger

We're On Command

Progress' Holocaust

Rating: 85,5%

Follow the Portuguese thrashers from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NuklearInfektion