Formed by Danny Lilker after his departure from Anthrax, Nuclear Assault's sound combined both the hardcore influences of Lilker and John Connelly with the more metallic styles of Anthony Bramante and Glenn Evans, accentuated by Connelly's rather unique whiney (yet effective) vocal style. Game Over and Survive are arguably the band's best albums and are highly regarded as hardcore-tinged thrash classics. The band dissolved soon after the release of Something Wicked, the only album not to feature the classic lineup (Bramante and Lilker had left the band previously).

In 2002 the original lineup came back together, and a live album Live Again was released in 2003. With new guitarist Scott Harrington now on board (who replaces Erik Burke, who had replaced Anthony Bramante), the band has released their first studio album in over a decade, entitled Third World Genocide.