Wilkes-Barre thrash metal band Cruel Bomb goes nuclear with launch of self-titled album and sold-out show
After eight years of hard work and even harder riffs, Cruel Bomb is blowing it all up, wiping everything out and rebuilding from the incinerated ground up.
Taking everything they’ve learned over releasing three EPs in three years, the Wilkes-Barre-based thrash metal quartet is dropping their first full-length record today, a self-titled payload of 11 devastating tracks that they’re treating as the true “debut” of the band.
“This album has our everything on it. It is the definitive ‘Cruel Bomb’ release,” vocalist/guitarist Brandon James Moss emphasized.
“I want to use this album as my ‘best shot.’ I’m getting older and, if I don’t hit the goals I’m looking for in my musical career, I can look at this and say, ‘That was our best shot,” and I can go on living my life knowing I tried my hardest.”
This wasn’t the only arduous task he would have to overcome. In late 2022, a car accident changed his life forever. He spent the next several months in physical therapy learning to walk again, and the resulting chronic pain persists nearly three years later and may never truly go away. This did, at least, give Moss, guitarist Kennie Barto, drummer Kyle McKeown, and bassist Nick Hennebaul the opportunity to slow down and take the time they needed to get everything right.
“Over the years, people just kept asking for it. We were already out out of that EP flow with my accident and everything that happened. I think we just made the decision to just wait a little longer and get this album out,” he said.
“Some of the riffs on this album even predate ‘Man Made,’ so I’d probably say there was five years of writing. It took us six months to record this album at Novro Studios – not because of them, but because of us being perfectionists. We genuinely took our time to make sure these songs are the absolute best the could be when we recorded them.”
Back in 2022 when NEPA Scene premiered the “Man Made” EP, he described their songs simply as “heavy and fast,” capturing a classic metal sound influenced by the “Big Four” of thrash – Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax – as well as Exodus, Municipal Waste, Power Trip, Nuclear Assault, Warbringer, Iron Reagan, and Cro-Mags. He now believes that statement is “truer than ever!”
“We incorporated some of the fastest riffs we’ve written to date with some of the slowest riffs we’ve written. Our mission statement is to write music that’s going to want to make someone move, and I think we achieved this with all of the songs on this album.”
That includes the lead single “Target Neutralized,” which also features a music video shot at Novro Studios in Swoyersville with Eric and Sarah Novroski.
“The song honestly had so many different ideas about it. We had a bunch of those riffs for years, but I could never come up with a catchy chorus for it. With the chorus it eventually landed on, I just kind of sat there and listened to it over and over again. The phrase ‘laid hidden until the targets been naturalized’ came to mind, and that honestly formed the rest of the song around it. It’s just about being a sniper, as cliché as that sounds, with heavy influence of the original ‘Predator,'” Moss recalled.
“We just wanted to keep the video simple. A lot of crazy videos require so much more stuff than people realize. The heat vision is kind of like the thermal scope we were thinking with the ‘Predator’ inspiration since he’s the ultimate hunter. We just wanted it to be no bullshit, just us. It was awkward since I usually have a guitar in my hands, but I wanted to try being a vocalist for a change. I’m sure Sarah has some clips of us being our ridiculous selves.”
Recording everything at the same studio helped the group maintain a consistent vision throughout this long process.
“Eric and Sarah are phenomenal, and I can’t sing their praises enough. More people in our area should be working with them,” he noted.
“We even did a couple playthrough videos to be released with them as well.”
To literally wrap everything up in a complete package, Cruel Bomb worked with legendary heavy metal and horror illustrator Ed Repka on the cover artwork, the man dubbed the “King of Thrash Metal Art” for his work on Megadeth’s “Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?” and “Rust in Peace,” among many other iconic records. The finished piece shows an armed pinup girl in a gas mask riding a bomb à la “Dr. Strangelove” while a brutal aerial dogfight brings the world below to a bitter nuclear end.
“It was a dream of mine to have Ed Repka work on one of our album covers. With this being our biggest release to date, I didn’t want to hold back. He was so great and easy to work with. He sent me the sketch and we him gave an immediate yes. It was everything we wanted it to be, and I couldn’t be more excited about it,” Moss enthused.
That furor will light up the Moon Tavern (1946 Scranton/Carbondale Hwy., Dickson City) tonight as the band plays a sold-out album release show with Traverse the Abyss, Coppermine, Vara Alta, and Promises Unsaid.
“It’s got a little bit of everything! Two local staples with us and Traverse the Abyss, and one of the up-and-coming metal bands in Coppermine, plus two bands coming out of state! They’re certainly going to get that NEPA welcome to a sold-out show,” Moss affirmed.
“[Fans can expect] high, high, high energy and a ton of new songs. We’re going to absolutely give it our all on that stage. It’s surreal – the fact it’s actually already sold out is insane. I’m excited to bring this album out to this crowd. We just have to deliver now!”
That should be a lot easier knowing that this is, undoubtedly, their greatest material yet, set to leave a craterous impact on the local music scene and, hopefully, much more in the larger apocalyptic world of heavy metal.
“I genuinely believe this is our best work. We even retooled two songs that we previously did but in the same style as our album, with all the extra things we’ve added to them in our live show. I really hope this gets into as many hands as possible. It feels like the birth of a child for me. We’ve work so hard for countless months, and I think it was worth it. I just want people to know we’re here and we’re back better than ever,” Moss left off.
“‘Cruel Bomb’ is out on anywhere and everywhere that streams music. Listen to it, buy it, steal it. I don’t care – just listen to this album!”
Learn more about the history of Cruel Bomb and their new album in Episode 220 of the NEPA Scene Podcast:
