Itโs been nearly three years since Nails released their first record Unsilent Death and ringed us all by the neck and kicked us in the mouth while we were down on the ground. Time flies when youโre having fun, eh?
But the truth is Nails arenโt fun. Unsilent Death wasnโt fun and neither is its follow-up Abandon All Life. Nails are aggression and red-eyed fury incarnate. This was proven with the 15 minutes of ruinous hardcore that was Unsilent Death. Its vitriol and fury seeming unparalleled but how were they going to match it? Could they match it? The answer is an emphatic yes and a fist in the face for thinking otherwise.
With a little more of a metallic edge in its step, Abandon All Life makes its MO perfectly clear at the get-go with โIn Exodusโ, a roaring thrashing number with piercing guitars and earth shaking double kick drums thatโll tear houses down. Meanwhile, โGodโs Cold Handsโ is a ruthless beast soaked in misanthropy and is evidence of the band stepping up their game greatly amongst peers like Trap Them.
Of course, Nails are primarily concerned with speed and ferocity. Thatโs a given. However, theyโve shown a few times in the past the ability to slow the beating down for a moment and โWide Open Woundโ, an appropriate song title if there ever was one, is more than proof of that.
Abandon All Life follows a similar format to Unsilent Death with short one minute long bursts of bile accompanied by a longer middle way track and lengthier number to close. Itโs predictable in a sense, but it works. Nails are band from whom you know exactly what youโre getting. Perhaps Unsilent Death benefitted from something of an element of surprise. With Abandon All Life, their profile had been expanded and so had expectation. Itโs still a pummelling, and while expected itโs totally crushing and debilitating sonic violence.
NAILS Spring Tour w/ Xibalba, Early Graves:
4/26/2013 The Cobra Lounge โ Chicago, IL @ The Rumble [info]
4/27/2013 Now Thatโs Class โ Cleveland, OH
4/28/2013 The Funeral Home โ Buffalo, NY
4/29/2013 Sneaky Deaโs โ Toronto, ON
4/30/2013 Il Motore โ Montreal, QC
5/01/2013 Bogies โ Albany, NY
5/02/2013 Great Scott โ Boston, MA
5/03/2013 St Vitus โ Brooklyn, NY
5/04/2013 OโReillys โ Philadelphia, PA
Abandon All Life is available from Southern Lord
