Handle with Care (Nuclear Assault album)

Handle with Care is the third studio album by American thrash metal band Nuclear Assault released in 1989. This is the band's most successful and best-selling album to date, peaking at number 126 on the Billboard 200, making it their highest position so far.[1] "Critical Mass" was released as a single to promote the album.

Handle with Care
Studio album by
Nuclear Assault
ReleasedNovember 23, 1989 (1989-11-23)
Recorded1989
StudioThe Music Grinder, Los Angeles, California
Genre
Length35:05
LabelIn-Effect
ProducerRandy Burns
Nuclear Assault chronology
Survive
(1988)		 Handle with Care
(1989)		 Out of Order
(1991)

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal7/10[3]

Reviews for Handle with Care have been mostly positive. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia awards the album four-and-a-half stars out of five and describes it as "a record which stands the test of time as one of the East Coast's best offerings to the thrash metal genre." Rivadavia also praises Handle with Care a "perfect introduction, and pretty much all one will ever need from Nuclear Assault", while he describes "Critical Mass," "F♮ (Wake Up)," and "When Freedom Dies" as "outstanding thrashers."[2]

Handle with Care entered the Billboard 200 album charts in February 1990, three months after its release.[4] The album peaked at number 126 and remained on the chart for 24 weeks.[1]

Handle with Care was ranked at number seven on Loudwire's top ten list of "Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4".[5]

Anecdotes

The sentence "The svastika is calling you", which is heard at the very end of the song "Torture Tactics", is taken from the movie The Blues Brothers. This sentence is yelled on the megaphone by the head of the Illinois Nazi Party (played by Henry Gibson) during the scene of the bridge. "Torture Tactics" being a very caricatured political song towards Nazis, this sentence is suited, since The Blues Brothers is a caricatured movie too.

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."New Song"John ConnellyConnelly2:58
2."Critical Mass"ConnellyDan Lilker3:19
3."Inherited Hell"ConnellyConnelly3:30
4."Surgery"ConnellyLilker, Glenn Evans2:44
5."Emergency"ConnellyEvans3:20
6."Funky Noise"ConnellyConnelly0:50
7."F♮ (Wake Up)"ConnellyConnelly2:58
8."When Freedom Dies"ConnellyLilker2:34
9."Search & Seizure"EvansEvans4:11
10."Torture Tactics"ConnellyConnelly2:22
11."Mothers' Day"Lilker, EvansLilker, Evans0:32
12."Trail of Tears"ConnellyConnelly5:44
2008 Deluxe Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Intro/New Song"3:11
14."Critical Mass"3:11
15."Torture Tactics"2:07
16."Trail of Tears"3:57
17."Mother's Day"0:59
18."Funky Noise"0:50

Tracks 13-18 taken from the Live at the Hammersmith Odeon album

Personnel
Nuclear Assault
Additional musicians
Production
  • Randy Burns – producer
  • Casey McMakin – engineer
  • Larry Malchose, Steve Heinke – assistant engineers

References
  1. "Nuclear Assault Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  2. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Nuclear Assault - Handle with Care review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  3. Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 247. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  4. "Handle With Care - Nuclear Assault". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-07-28.
  5. "Top 10 Thrash Albums NOT Released by the Big 4". Loudwire.com. October 8, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
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