Last week, I had the surprising pleasure of having Nuke Plant Chickens reach out to me to see if I’d be interested in reviewing their latest release — Ribeye of the Sky — which is out now as of Saturday, May 30.

Since then, I’ve listened to it a bunch, and I have quite a few things to say about this effort from the local band. 

You can stream the new album on all music-streaming services.

In fact, you can listen to it on Spotify right now just below. Then, read my thoughts on the release and see how they compare to your own.

Nuke Plant Chickens will be handing out physical copies of Ribeye of the Sky at shows over the next few months, so make sure you follow the band on social media, or faithfully check their website, so you don’t miss your chance to get one. 

Want to hear it in my voice? Watch my review right here.

Brief Band Bio

First, let me briefly introduce you to the band. 

For those who don’t know, the band – at its center – is a family affair. Brothers Ethan and Cameron Dohrmann — who play guitar and bass, respectively — originally had a thrash metal band before joining up with cousin Jeff Horton, who jumped on the vocals. Luckily, that thrash metal band already contained drummer Max Stockdale and Hunter Randell on guitar. 

The band would go on to keep evolving – adding saxophone player Maddie – before playing their first official gig at Rustic Road Brewing Company in Kenosha in July 2022. 

According to Horton, the show proved to be a fateful one, because it gave the band its final member: Cloee Weiher.

“And who was at that first gig? As an audience member? Cloee. And a few months later, Cloee joined the band,” Horton wrote in a statement sent to me on the band’s history.

Though Maddie left the band in 2023, the remaining six – Ethan, Cameron, Horton, Cloee, Hunter and Max have been the current and permanent lineup you can catch playing around the local area since 2024. 

Behind Ribeye of the Sky

Guitarist Ethan — who also does backing vocals on the release — is to thank for a lot of the mix and mastering of the release, according to Horton and manager Jonathan Dohrmann, who I had the pleasure of talking with as I collected some information for this review.

“He did a lot of the final mixes and a lot of the guitar solo recordings at home,” Dohrmann noted in conversation with me. 

Cloee also created the art for the release from scratch. 

“She is a gifted visual artist, painter, calligrapher and photographer,” Horton wrote. 

When it comes to the intent behind the release, Horton doesn’t launch into some grandiose, existential rant like some artists may. Instead, he admits to the elusiveness of the answer as to the direct point of the album. 

“The songs don’t follow a specific trail, or obey any certain genre,” Horton explained to me. “They’re each a different beast, honing in on their own vibe. Vengeful, sorrowful, high, or horny, you name it. The songs are alive, and we’re just their parents. They are our children. They soar above us, we are their servants.

“It’s been a journey and a pleasure for me. Making music with my friends. That’s Heaven.”

General thoughts

From the moment that the palm-muted first notes – bouncing back and forth between your ears — enter into your mind on opening track “Paris, Wisconsin”, Nuke Plant Chicken’s new release — Ribeye of the Sky — sucks you in. 

This is not just due to the skill of each of its members. It’s also that real meticulous and focused mastering done behind the scenes that I believe really pays off right from the start of this release. The clarity of the notes is stunning, and there’s really nothing on the entire thing that I could, personally, pick apart and find a good objective fault with. 

This is a really well-produced, extremely well-written effort from Nuke Plant Chickens. And quite honestly, there’s a few tracks that I know I’ll have on rotation on my own personal playlists for a while. 

Speaking of playlists, check out this one of live performances in Kenosha.

In Detail

While “Paris, Wisconsin” serves as a more gentle stroll into the tone of the album, “Springfield Rifle” truly introduces you to the band. For one, it’s the first time you get hit with Horton’s vocals. 

Now, I’ve seen Nuke Plant Chickens live. And quite honestly, when gearing up to listen to a band’s release, I’m always a little apprehensive of how the vocals will come through. This is not a knock on any artist. It’s just that – unless you’ve been stuck in a vocal booth for a while recording tracks – you might not understand how awkward it can be, and how – frankly – it can be hard to have the same passion, intensity and personality of the singer come through. 

However, this release accurately captures Horton’s presence — chaotic and smooth, and each one only when he feels like it. To me, from a technical standpoint concerning just the mix and levels, this is extremely impressive. Beyond that, I love a singer who can be gritty, and then turn on a dime and croon. And Nuke Plant Chickens has that in Horton. 

“Born Again Funk”

This track highlights the band’s use of harmonies, both in instrumentation and how Horton and the band approach main and backing vocal tracks. 

For one, the guitar tracks are dynamic and play off each other perfectly throughout the song. I really, really dig the guitar work here, and I think most guitar players will. Coupled with that, the drums are just as much upfront on this track, and Max’s style really is just awesome here. The thing that I appreciate most about his style is that he knows his spots. Some drummers just beat the hell out of the set the whole time the band’s playing, and they end up stepping all over the lyrics, the guitars and nearly everything else. And god help you if the cymbals are too bright. 

But, Max knows how to play with skill and to showcase talent, while also only being heard out ahead of things at the moments that appropriately accent everything else. It’s my favorite style: showing off by having the restraint to not try to show off. 

Plus, I won’t lie, that kind of jazz organ sound that hits about halfway through gets me every time. I’ll have more to say on that in just a little bit. 

“Tennant 6”

The fourth track is really the end of the setup created by the first third of the album. It is full-on electric, hard rock through and through. And to many who have seen the band live, this is about the energy and vibe that they are used to encountering when losing control of themselves on a dance floor when the band is rocking out. 

This is truly the electric side of the band that their fans and many in the local music scene have come to love and appreciate so much. 

“Campus of Hopeless Romantics” 

However, starting with the fifth track, the band starts showing you the expanded view of their creativity. 

This is where I get to talk about my love for jazz organ again, because this track — “Campus of Hopeless Romantics” — brings back that tone, while also playing hard into the time period it was heavy in. 

In fact, if I told you this track was a lost demo song from a band in the late 1960s/early 1970s, you’d probably believe me. 

And it’s exactly that kind of full-stop genre shift and diving headfirst into the influence of bands of that era that made this a prime contender for my personal favorite track of the release. 

However, there is one track that I think highlights perfectly everything I’ve said about this release so far, and to me, truly serves as the culmination of this expertly-created introduction to this period of the band’s music. 

Inside the Mind of Daniel Thompson (Podcast)

“Everything is Circular” 

“Everything is Circular”, to me, is the moment that you see the full breadth of Nuke Plant Chickens. For most of the release to this point, you are experiencing a lot of the high-energy of the band. Again, this is something that you’ll come to expect from them if you see them playing out live. This band is in no way sluggish on a stage. 

However, one of the things that I think I most deeply appreciate about the collective group is that the introduction of a simple shift from electric to acoustic rhythm and lead guitars is this really clever and natural way of basically making the listener “lean in a little closer” to hear the messages that are meaningfully-woven throughout the lyrics of the next few songs. 

This is the most apparent to me in what I believe is the emotional center of the release, its seventh track. 

“Mourn Flea”

“Mourn Flea” is – hands down — the emotional gut-punch of Ribeye of the Sky and highlights the lyrical abilities of the band. 

In fact, it features a few lines that hit me in that way where I know that I’ll keep thinking about them from time to time, randomly, for years to come: 

“He defies conventional wisdom/He defies those who rank above him/He defies those who seek to lead him astray/He defies preconceived notions of people afraid.”

While the words themselves strike me in a certain way on their own, when coupled with the balance of acoustic guitar, bass and the raw emotion of Horton’s voice, they are simply haunting. 

Closing Tracks

After the more subdued, emotional bomb of “Mourn Flea”, the band takes your hand and pulls you back up to the dance floor with “I Can Change You”. The electric guitars return; Max’s drums kick back in; and far from being jarring, the effect is actually more of the feeling of letting out that breath that you didn’t realize you’d been holding in while focusing on the lyrics and story painted by “Mourn Flea”. 

The closing tracks “Vegas Nerve” and “Jotnar” bring you full-circle back to the lively, fully-electric Nuke Plant Chickens who found you near the beginning of Ribeye of the Sky — and with a name like “Jotnar” from Norse mythology on the last track – it truly does feel like you’ve gone on the traditional hero’s journey and have now returned home — but changed somehow, in some way for the better. 

If you haven’t, check out my storytelling podcast, The Sleeping Saints.

Final Thoughts

I could not recommend that you track down the band and get your hands on this album more emphatically. From a local standpoint, I think it should be a point of pride for all of us in Kenosha that our city and area produces and serves as the home for such talented artists and working musicians as bands like Nuke Plant Chickens. 

Specifically to this band, I think this release really shows the start of something incredibly special that I’m expecting many great things from for years to come. 

What you hear on this release isn’t what Nuke Plant Chickens will always be.

It’s not the end of something. 

It’s the first significant notch in the very notable and memorable band I believe they’re becoming. 

Please, take the time to experience that for yourself by streaming the album or going to see Nuke Plant Chickens play live and grabbing a physical copy of Ribeye of the Sky for yourself. 

Do you have an upcoming album release and want me to review it? Send me an email at dt@saintofsixth.com or reach out on social media. I’m always happy to listen to and experience local music.