‘Try and take my friends away, Unmarked vans, daylight raids, How can you just sit back? Night of broken glass, every day, Disappeared overnight’ (Disappeared)

The late philosopher Frederic Jamieson once said, “It seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of the earth and of nature than the breakdown of late capitalism.”  Total Nuclear Annihilation is an exploration of this idea, a cathartic exercise in contemplating what is driving the world to the brink – state vigilantism, rigged economics, technological manipulation – and whether notions of burning it all down to start again stand up to scrutiny.

This is the Milwaukee band’s second full-length, following up 2023’s Years Of Lead.  The artwork immediately calls back to mid-1980s’ thrash metal, an era when nuclear war seemed a very real possibility, and a threat that once again seems to be emerging amid an authoritarian unravelling.  Musically, this is not an entirely inaccurate cue.  However, World I Hate neatly sidestep an overreliance on riffs alone that can stifle some crossover bands.

Don’t get me wrong, there are killer riffs aplenty, but these are draped over a robust scaffolding of blast beat fuelled power violence, noise infused Japanese metallic crust, and fiercely burly vocals.   The highlights slam home thick and fast.  The brutal climatic breakdown to Disappeared.  The merciless groove of Six Degrees.  The swaggering stomp of Incentivized.  The bruising, melody flecked discordance of You Won’t Survive.  No one will.