Nails - "Abandon All Life" Review

2010 was the year that the world got it's face mercilessly caved in by the sheer metallic awesomeness that was Nails - "Unsilent Death".  It was a record that crossed over into a lot of different scenes; it was  heavy enough for the metal kids, had brutal mosh riffs for the hardcore fans, and was fast and perfectly bullshit-free enough so that grindheads could get into it too. In my eyes it's a near perfect record, and I continue to jam it to this day.  So how do they follow it up after three long years? They do the same thing again, only louder, faster, and heavier! One could argue that "Abandon All Life" is too close to a being a carbon copy of "Unsilent Death"; both have 10 tracks, are under 20 minutes, both have a slower track at the mid-way and end of the album. On the outside, it does look eerily similar (speaking of the outside, I finally figured out what the cover art is, and it makes it a hell of a lot better), but musically, Nails have mixed it up in just enough ways to keep it from being "Unsilent Death Pt. 2". For one, they've gotten a lot faster. The grind influence went up more than a few notches on here, the drums are absolutely pummeling and sound like a full on elephant stampede. A lot more metal too, with some pretty obvious nods to classic death metal bands. The breakdown to the title track, "Abandon All Life", is total Morbid Angel worship, and the Suffocation-style slam riff at the end of "Gods Cold Hands" is fantastically brutish. If anything, I can see a lot of the people that were attracted to the hardcore side of Nails getting turned off here. There are breakdowns galore, but they don't have the primal toughness that "Unslient Death" did. The slower songs also aren't really that spectacular this time around too. The previously mentioned mid-track, "Wide Open Wound", just trudges along with some pretty un-captivating riffs for it's 3+ minute run time. The closer, "Suum Quique", also suffering from a horrible case of endtro-riff-going-on-for-too-long-syndrom (much like "Unsilent Death" actually...huh). Overall though, Nails came back and conquered the first quarter of 2013 with a devastating album, definitely one of the best I've heard all year. Pick this up asap! Hopefully next time we won't have to wait three more years for another 17 minutes of music!

Rating: 9/10

~VII

New Music from Mindless, Total Fucking Destruction, Gets Worse, Nails

New music is coming at me from all sides, so let's try to make it all nice and neat here and list a few bands in one article, shall we? Starting with the long overdue and sure to be triumphant return of the almighty Mindless! A new 7" EP has been in the works for a while now, and recently, To Live A Lie was nice enough to debut 2 brand new tracks from the record. Killer stuff, as I'm sure we all were expecting. The main track is a nearly 2 and a half minute slow trudger, followed by a short and sweet blaster. The band sounds heavy as hell, and Faiza is really getting her lower vocals down very well. "Planet Of Pestilence" will be released by To Live A Lie sometime this year, very excited.

Next up, a new 2 track EP from Total Fucking Destruction, entitled, "Monsters"! I've always really gotten a kick out of TFD. Their blend of humor, tight musicianship, and just overall insanity really captivates me. There's really no other grind bands that sounds quite like them. The tracks on "Monsters" are some of the most unapologetically goofy that the band has made. Wild, arena-rock-on-psychedelics-guitar solos are all over the place, cleanly sung back up vocals, lyrics about everyday suicide, and of course, monsters. It's a super short, but super enjoyable listen. Check it out.

Next is a new 4 track EP from UK powerviolence bruisers, Gets Worse. I guess this was released as a companion to their "S/T" EP (which recently came out on a 10" record, which looks amazing and should definitely be purchased), the new tracks here naturally follow the same formula as that release. Super heavy, beefy powerviolence, like a mix of Weekend Nachos and The Afternoon Gentlemen. The songs here a little more straight forward and blasty, but still keeping the chunky monkey grooves. This young band is really going to get a lot of attention soon, I can feel it. Lookout.

And finally, continuing my trend of staying way behind on the current hot topics, the new track from Nails! This is a band that has always kind of had people wondering where they fit in; "Are they grind?", "Are they a hardcore band?", "Nah dude, they're a metallic hard-grind band". While I definitely don't think they are a grindcore band, I know a lot of grinders like them, and fuck me if I'm not head over heels ecstatic about their new full-length, "Abandon All Hope". This track is a monster, and the band sounds as intense as ever. The new album should be out sometime in March on Southern Lord Records. Way too pumped. But screw that craptastic cover art.

~VII

Nails/Skin Like Iron - Split Review

Did y'all know that Nails have a new split coming out at the end of the month? How cool is that! The California trio will be sharing a split 7" with fellow west coasters Skin Like Iron, which will be released for public consumption January 31st. This will be a one time, limited pressing of 1000 copies, something that collector snobs everywhere will be dying to get their hands on quick! Side A features 2 songs from Skin Like Iron, which serve as my formal introduction to this band. They play a melodic, uplifting sounding, moshable style of metallic hardcore. And aside from the vocals there's not a whole lot in these two songs to distinguish them from the rest of the pack of bands like this, or turn me into a fan. D-beats galore, and more major-key guitar leads than you can shake a stick at. I've heard this style done a lot, and I've never been into it really. And again aside from the vocals, which go for a more raspy, metal sound, they just don't sound different or interesting to me. Pass 

Now on the flip-side, we got Nails. A band that I am a huge fan of and am always interested in new material from. 2 tracks from them as well, and I believe these are also to be included on their upcoming full-length which will be released later this year. The first song, "Annihilation", is an almost 3 minute mid-tempo chugger. Heavy as shit production, almost bordering on sounding too thick and soupy, but just still destructive as hell. This recording makes Skin Like Iron's side sound like the newest bubblegum pop record. One noticeable change I hear is the more higher register vocals from singer Todd Jones. I thought he would be switching it up a little bit judging from some recent live videos. Still sounding sick there Todd! Thanks for not adopting those death growls. Their side ends with a quick 24 second blaster called "Cry Wolf", showing that Nails still got the fast songs in them. Stoked as hell for the new record! You can stream the new split over at the Deciblog here, and pre-order the 7" at Nails merch store. 

Rating: 6.5/10

~VII