21st August 2026

Review: “Nuclear Summer” by Contention

“Modernity brings no enlightenment, only more refined methods of annihilation. Annihilation of the enemy. Annihilation of the self. Our leaders have shed their increasingly thin facades of humanity. The masses shamble through life in a drug and media fueled haze. They worship a machine that grinds them to dust and uses them for fuel. Cities are leveled in our name. Bombs are assembled with our tax dollars. We’re held hostage by a small group of deranged degenerates with nuclear arsenals and a lust for ruin. Are these the final days? Or is the suffering of modernity only a single day swallowed by a quarter eon of unchecked brutality?” ~ Cosmo Vidussi, vocals

After the band teased it with physical compact discs at Sound and Fury Festival, a new record from Tampa Florida Straight Edge crew Contention has been surprise released via label home Daze. Recorded and produced by John Howard (Yashira, Graveview, Bleeding Heart) at War House Studio the new tracks are the bands first since the Metallic Hardcore band gave us “Artillery from Heaven” back in 2024.

Picking up from the aforementioned “Artillery from Heaven” as if they never left the studio, Contention rip and tear with old school Metallic Hardcore conviction on “Second Sun“. The weight of influence from bands like Earth Crisis is amplified to the nth degree in staccato riff breaks, pummelling percussion and rumbling bass, the throat shredding vocals from Cosmo Vidussi as vicious as they are thought provoking. The band then play perfect partners with “Blank Stare“, the track playing out like a continuation of its predecessor with a little bit of whammy bar action and some crossover Thrash appeal. A furious ball of aggression, this angry anthem will incite mosh pit violence at every venue the band set foot in, its blistering energy second to none. Having cited The Swarm (also known as Knee Deep In The Dead) as an influence since their inception back in 2019, a cover of “X On Our Knees X / Upside Your Head” comes as no surprise and the 100 second rampage through Metallic Hardcore is a vicious little ditty. The riffs are as barbed as the earlier pair of cuts, the vocals just as savage but the point of difference is just how infectious the leads are. If you haven’t heard anything by Contention before then this is a mighty fine place to start! [8/10]

Track Listing