Nails – Every Bridge Burning
Nails – Every Bridge Burning
Nuclear Blast
Release Date: 30/08/2024
Running Time: 17:44
Review by Rory Bentley
9/10
Nails mastermind Todd Jones knows a thing or two about burning bridges, having a high profile disdain for large parts of the music press and, upon listening to his discography, fucking everyone! The Powerviolence/Grind/Noise/Extreme project has finally reared its disgusting head after 2016’s feral “You Will Never Be One of Us”, and the results are predictably vile and immensely satisfying.
There are many who have stepped into fill the void of psychotic devotion to extremity in the intervening years, but there’s something about that fucking filthy guitar tone Nails offer along with Todd’s demented barks that nobody else is able to get close to. The second ‘Imposing Will’ carved through the speakers with chainsaw riffs and flailing drums, I felt like I’d sat down beside a warm fire in the cosy home of an old friend or relative I hadn’t seen in a while. Except my gracious host is about to chuck a hot cup of tea in my face and curb-stomp me over the fireplace. Nails are the experts on brevity and getting to the point, pummelling the listener with no wasted motion while somehow managing to be more memorable than childhood trauma.
The thugged out half-time section at the end of ‘Punishment Map’ gets more done than the last Metallica album in terms of dynamics and pacing, and the song is barely over a minute in length. The vocal mantra of “Failure!” on the title track is the kind of earworm that singers who don’t sound like vomiting goblins would kill to write, and the skin-flaying white hot chugs on the spectacularly-titled ‘Lacking The Ability to Process Empathy’ piss all over the finest moments of nearly all the Hardcore records I’ve binged on this year.
Once again the Hardcore deity Kurt Balou is on the desk twiddling knobs and somehow making the sound of a swarm of hornets in a malfunction tumble-dryer sound coherent and impactful, rather than the hot mess that one would reasonably expect. ‘Made Up In Your Mind’ for example cuts through with surgical precision despite the guitars and bass being the audio equivalent of a tar pit full of broken glass and rotting mastodons. Meanwhile the squalling feedback that kicks off and lingers over the verses of ‘Dehuminized’, is straight out of the Converge playbook of making your guitar sound like a pteranodon being slowly crushed in a trash compactor.
Keeping in line with the record’s devotion to shaving songs down to their leanest form, even the obligatory Sludge-worship closer we’ve come to expect from Nails is a mere 3 minutes. ‘No More Rivers to Cross’ is bleakness personified, piling on the intensity despite easing back on the pace, yet it has a curmudgeonly message that may be the most relatable set of lyrics I’ve heard all year- “All I want is to be left alone, pay my bills and die in my home”. I feel you Todd, I really feel you. In many ways the song sums up the ethos of Nails- they just want to make their fucked up nasty racket with zero compromise and they genuinely don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks.
Not that Todd and the lads care what I think, but this is another sick, twisted triumph. Deeply unpleasant in the best way and a real welcome treat for anyone that likes their music nasty, repugnant and devoid of unnecessary fluff. Nails understand that life’s too short to fuck around, now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got bills to pay and a home to die in!
Nails – Imposing Will
TRACKLISTING:
01. Imposing Will
02. Punishment Map
03. Every Bridge Burning
04. Give Me The Painkiller
05. Lacking The Ability To Process Empathy
06. Trapped
07. Made Up Your Mind
08. Dehumanized
09. I Can’t Turn It Off
10. No More Rivers To Cross
LINE-UP:
Todd Jones – lead vocals, guitar (2009–present)
Shelby Lermo – guitar (2024–present)
Andrew Solis – bass (2024–present)
Carlos Cruz – drums (2024–present
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
