I’m a sucker for three-piece extreme bands. If you can pull off doing a
really heavy or fast band with only three people, then you’re doing something
right.
Rewind to September 2012. I was watching a video of Nails’ set from
This Is Hardcore the month before and noticed they added a new guitarist. I’ll
admit, I was a bit disappointed; seeing Nails completely destroy a small venue
in Pittsburgh the year before really cemented my love for the concept of the
hardcore trio. However, as the video rolled, I warmed up to the idea and eventually
abandoned the three-piece Nails I once knew for the quartet I was currently
watching. During the set, Todd Jones announced they would be recording a new
album for release in 2013, which would become the band’s sophomore release for
Southern Lord Records, Abandon All Life.
After listening through the album, I decided there was no way to
compare Abandon All Life with the band’s prior effort, Unsilent Death. The new
record comes off more as a metal album than a grind-influenced hardcore record,
incorporating more death metal influences and punishing listeners in new forms.
The band comes right out of the gate with the opener, “In Exodus”, which
rotates between crushing slow parts and otherworldly blasts with Jones’
signature high-pitched howl layered on top. The song is followed by two
45-second bursts of grinding fury in “Tyrant” and “Absolute Control”; the songs
run you over like a steamroller and are finished before you even realize what
hit you.
One thing that really shines through for Nails on this record is the utilization
of slower and more sinister passages such as “Wide Open Wound” and the album’s
closer, “Suum Cuique”. These songs sit nicely between the short songs on the
latter half of the album, not one of which clocks in over 90 seconds, and
create a more cohesive album experience. Don’t get me wrong, Unsilent Death was
great, but compared to Abandon All Life, it was short and not as varied.
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