Metal Group NUSE Named 'The Rat' Rock Band Of The Week; 2 Members Live In Hillsborough

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Veteran New Jersey metal band NUSE is 95.9 FM "The Rat" Jersey Rock Band of the Week, and two band members currently live in Hillsborough.

The band reached out to Patch on Facebook to share this local connection. Lead singer and guitarist Mike LaMastro and drummer Bob Mangual live there, LaMastro said.

95.9 The Rat will play tracks from NUSE's latest album, "Evilution - Volume 1," at 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the week of June 20. LaMastro will call in to the show each night.

The band has released two singles off of "Evilution - Volume 1" so far. The latest single, "Scoundrel," came out May 12.

NUSE has been making music for three decades, and has opened for acts such as The Misfits, Testament, and Scar the Martyr, which featured Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison.

Their video "Swept Away" won Best Music Video at the IMDB Independent Shorts Awards film festival in 2021. The video's story has themes of anger, depression, anxiety, and suicide.

"Swept Away" was the first single off this new record.

Read More: Hillsborough Metal Band Launches Single, 'Powerful' Music Video

"The song is about someone who is terminally ill and on the outside they are showing their family they are strong and putting up good front… that everything will be ok," LaMastro said at the time. "But on the inside, there is pain, suffering. There is turmoil. Questioning of morality. The person is obviously struggling and ultimately the disease takes them in the end."

Hillsborough resident Tom Baldinger, who owns 624 Productions, was the writer and director for the video.

NUSE is LaMastro, Bob Mangual, bassist Eric Mangual, and guitarist Mike Wilday.