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Short-lived Australian Speed/Thrash band Aggressa is seeing their music in the light of day again thanks to a reissue of their debut mini-LP, Nuclear Death, along with some demo versions of the same songs on that release. Iron Bonehead Productions is releasing this material, on vinyl only, as a way to show where the current Australian extreme music scene began and, as a piece of nostalgia, it works well. Nuclear Death + Demo 1 is full of fast and dirty Speed/Thrash that should have all fans of early Venom, Possessed and Slayer slavering. The problem with this re-release is the sound, which is absolutely dreadful. It is full of hiss, pops, clicks and extraneous noise, not to mention too quiet and poorly mixed. Even for the 80s, this would have been difficult to listen to. Despite the shortcomings, which include terrible lead and backing vocals, the band is undeniably tight and has some wicked riffs. Most of the songs are fairly generic, but I'd love to hear a current band, like Toxic Holocaust or Nuclear, take a run at covering "Torture and Pain." This song is a great combination of speed and melody and the chorus is forever stuck in my head.

If you yearn for the tape trading days of yore, Nuclear Death + Demo 1 is going to be a refreshing walk down memory lane. The raw, undeniable energy comes through all the clutter and you'll be back in time, opening a dirty, banged up padded envelope and dumping some homemade cassette with a hand-written band name on it into your filthy mitts. But, if you like your Metal, whatever stripe, to actually sound good, you're going to need to steer clear.