It seems it was just yesterday that the news was out that Todd Jones (Carry On, Terror, Betrayed, and other killer bands) had started a new group called Nails.
But here we are, 14 years after the release of Unsilent Death, with a new Nails lineup and their fourth album, Every Bridge Burning, about to come out.
In addition to Jones, Nails now consists of drummer Carlos Cruz, guitarist Shelby Lermo, and bassist Andrew Solis.
With its aural attack of blast beats, lunatic-sounding vocal lines, and mouth-watering closing breakdown section, it's no surprise "Imposing Will" was chosen as the album's opening track. The savagery continues on the ominously titled "Punishment Map," which despite only lasting just over a minute, still distills the intense and brute nature of the Nails approach in short order.
The LP's title track keeps the killing pace plowing forward with purpose, bringing to mind Black Breath and Mammoth Grinder, two bands that also have roots in the hardcore scene with a penchant for Swedish death metal-kissed riffery.
"Give Me the Painkiller" answers the kind of question a psychopath like yours truly would ask, "I wonder what it would have sounded like if Motörhead ever recorded with Tomas Skogsberg at Sunlight Sound?"
It's a hard-charging, twin-guitar-celebrating shot of d-beat-meets-NWOBHM that is one of the best things Nails has done to date:
If his previous work in Nails has proved, Jones is very particular about the company he keeps in the studio, and his longtime collaborator Kurt Ballou, is back on Every Bridge Burning. "He’s such an important ingredient as to how we present our music," Jones says in the album's promotional kit. "When our fans want to hear Nails, they want to hear something that is through the filter of Kurt’s engineering.”
The Jones/Ballou collaboration is a potent one, and songs like "Trapped" and "Dehumanized" pack the punch their arrangements deserve, but the overall audio clarity is never sacrificed in the process.
The drums are a crucial cog in the Nails machine, and Cruz's parts sound every bit as gnarly as the guitars on Every Bridge Burning. The dude rips, and his bass drums cut through the walls of guitar and bass in the mix perfectly. It doesn't take long to understand why Jones invited Cruz into the Nails family.
The album closes out with its longest track, the epic-lengthed (at least for Nails) "No More Rivers to Cross," coming in at the 3:14-mark. This one is another standout cut on Every Bridge Burning, showcasing the slower paced, mid-tempo side of the Nails' tool kit.
After the pummeling that preceeded it, the slow-burn of "No More Rivers to Cross" is the sonic equivalent of a warm bath. Not that Nails should go Paradise Lost first album on us next time around, but the tempo shift is appreciated.
New lineup? No problem. Did you ever really doubt Mr. Jones? I know I didn't.
Get It
- Nuclear Blast Records (Vinyl, CD, digital)
Tagged: nails
