Struck A Nerve Self-Titled Review

Struck A Nerve

S/T

Listenable Records

2025

I am a die-hard thrash fan. I've lived for thrash since hearing the Big 4 and beyond in my early teen years. Seriously, the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Japan — I loved it all and wherever it came from. Then, it seemed a whole new crop of bands were intent on giving the entire genre a revival around 2007 and into the 2010s and beyond. My affinity for the genre remains. Well, it seems the revival will indeed continue with the UK’s Struck A Nerve and their self-titled debut, out from the ever-so-quality Listenable Records. Let's strap in and stage-dive from the PA stacks Billy Milano style and get to the nuts and bolts.

Struck A Nerve are a quartet consisting of Aaron Tucker on bass and vocals, Nathan Sadd on guitar, Christopher Williams on drums, and Lexell Altair Garrido on guitars as well. As a four-piece their sound is big, heavy, and powerful. The production and mix (handled by Sam Turbitt at Ritual Studios) is modern but contains those biting high-gain guitars and palm-muted chugs, and the drums, bass, and vocals are all evenly heard and never seem to fight the riff-forward processes here. To my ears, there even seem to be some HM-2 guitar tones blended in, which gives these songs more aggression and edge.

As for the songs, Struck A Nerve aren't reinventing any steel here. What they ARE doing is skillfully executing their brand of thrash, crossover hardcore, and even some death metal with conviction and piss and vinegar. Throughout nine songs, the tempos are breakneck, double-bass-ridden, breakdown-appropriate where needed, and they don't stick around past 4 minutes. Right up my alley. Opener “Nocturnal Terror” comes screaming out of the gate with unrelenting speed, barked/half-growled vocals, and one of the heaviest mid-sections I've heard this year behind some very tasty lead guitar soloing.

Next up is the four-on-the-floor toxic-waltzing vibe of namesake track “Struck A Nerve” with gang shouts and a churning two-step part before more carefully selected shredding into a “hey!”-shouted interlude with harmonized guitars, capping with another neck-snapping breakdown to wrap it up. From here I'm only listing favorites, like the mid-tempo menace of “Inside the Torture Fortress.” Need things sped up with some busy minor-key riffs and Slayer histrionics? No problem. The ferocious “Raining Death” (a title that I don't think was an accident) has got you covered.

My pick for top track here has to be the 4/4 head-nodding groove of “Last Eyes See All.” The breakdown at the end is an undeniable crusher. Throughout the proceedings of this album, Tucker employs vocals that can't help but remind me of Tony Foresta fist-fighting with Nuclear Assault’s John Connelly and Forced Entry’s Tony Benjamin — himself a bass player as well. Lyrically, the songs tackle the inherent violence and corruption that seem to be just another Sunday afternoon lately in 2025 and have, in essence, always been a prevalent feature throughout history. If that isn't perfect thrash content, I don't know what it is. “Leviathan Wings” closes it out with mid-tempo snarl, eerie clean guitar passages, and mind-bending, snaking guitar harmonies and technicality. Consequently, this is the longest and most involved track (clocking in at 5:11) with many tempo shifts, song parts, and weaving in and out of that monstrous verse pummeling.

There you have it. If you bow at the altar of flipped-bill hats, the tightest jeans imaginable with high-top basketball shoes, bullet belts, and denim battle vests, then you wanna run — not walk — to your nearest record store or online retailer and give Struck A Nerve a much-deserved listen. These UK brutes ain't dining on fish and chips, no sir. They're chewing nails and spitting fire and, behind Condition Critical, have given us not only the second-best thrash album of the year, but one hell of a promising debut. Get in this pit!

RIYL: Nuclear Assault, Forced Entry, Demolition Hammer, Municipal Waste, Sodom, Slayer

~TB