Album Review: Nails - Every Bridge Burning
Reviewed by Sam Jones
I fervently remember the last time Nails released a full length album, it was this huge record that really swivelled a great number of people to the band’s direction, and now eight years later we finally have a follow-up: Every Bridge Burning. Formed in 2007, Nails come from California, United States and exhibit a particularly ruthless blend of Powerviolence, Hardcore and Grindcore fronted from the start by Todd Jones performing guitar and vocal duties once more herein. Whilst the band had an EP release in 2009, it was quickly succeeded by their first album a year later in the form of 2010’s Unsilent Death, a seething record. Their next album would come in 2013 titled Abandon All Life which saw the band develop from something more than merely another Grindcore act, bettered once more as Nails unleashed that all-important most recent album, 2016’s You Will Never Be One Of Us, an absolutely huge release for the band. Aside from a Split with Full Of Hell the same year, and a Split three years later, nought else occurred for the band before news broke we’d finally receive their fourth full length record: Every Bridge Burning. A band with a fresh roster other than Todd Jones himself, this album may prove to be a rebirth of sorts for Nails as they at last give us fresh album material after eight long years. Due for release on August 30th through Nuclear Blast Entertainment once again, I was more than ready to delve into Nails’ latest barrage.
It’s been eight years since their last album? Really? Because Nails open Every Bridge Burning as if they’re immediately following the closure of their last record. It is completely without fanfare as the band instantly unleash a barrage of tone and violence at you without a nary of a hint of mercy in reserve for you. What did interest me right out of the gate though was the choice of the band’s tone; Nails here adopt a sound that’s more akin to Swedish death metal as opposed to those found in contemporary US extreme metal outfits. Granted this style is no stranger to speed but when Nails ramp up the ferocity by which they play at, it crafts a scathing and unmerciful atmosphere that will grab you by your teeth and grind you into the earth. The band aren’t known for accommodating your wants or wishes during your time spent with them, and this idea permeates throughout this album as well. The moment you play this record you’ll immediately understand the band aren’t looking to hold back.
It’s well regarded that Nails don’t exactly write music that’s particularly varied in songwriting or atmosphere; the band are here to do one thing and longtime fans come to Nails’ records for precisely that. One element that seems to really seal that notion are the drums. Given this is a Grindcore record that isn’t holding back, the drums are given the full leeway to exert absolutely everything they can muster with the fiercest blast beats and bass drums pound the record to submission. It’s advantageous there that the production allows for such a massive and grand performance albeit one that is very quick. The bass drums can become these especially commanding forces that slaughter the background of the record, so while you recognise the severity of their performance they aren’t doing so much upon you that you can’t still engage with the rest of the band. What’s more the drums have been given a loose position in the mix so whilst they’re still providing a pummelling performance, they don’t feel so grounded that they can’t move even as the band shake the earth.
Observing individuals may find early on that Every Bridge Burning is one brief album; this album doesn’t even span eighteen minutes and it’s considered by the band to be a full album. Often when a Grindcore band have plans for a full length release, it’ll be much longer than their EPs or past work would infer. Nails therefore should be commended to sticking to their guns and releasing not even twenty minutes of new music after nearly a decade because to do otherwise would compromise the ethos the band play about, and compromise has never been in Nails’ vocabulary. There are just ten tracks on record, only one of which spans three minutes whilst most don’t even extend beyond two; it is a blindly straightforward, blunt force trauma-inducing album that sees the band punch you square in the face and then leave with no other word afterwards.
Todd’s vocals are arguably the most ferocious they have ever been across Nails’ discography. Where he has always possessed his own rhythm when blurting his words out he always had that gruff snarl that gives Nails their signature brutality, but it’s the tempo that matters with his performance. Much like Nails’ own riffs his cadence is fast as instrumentation and vocals always manage to keep in time with each other. But the vocals aren’t actually the fastest you’ll hear on a Grindcore album and I believe it’s this temperament that lends Nails that virile savagery. Speed is great but sometimes the impact can end up being far lesser than a band wish for; you can look throughout the band’s past releases to see the effect of a more pronounced vocal performance whereby the vocalist isn’t getting drowned out by the constant barrage of violence as propagated by the riffs or blast beats.
In conclusion, Every Bridge Burning is a triumphant return for Nails to bask in as they do away with any such naysayers who may believe the band are done after such a period of inactivity and no album releases. With not even twenty minutes of songwriting, Nails deliver perhaps the most blunt and forceful album of their entire career as nothing is reserved; the audience’s opinions be damned with this one as Nails return with knuckle dusters galore, and our faces become the prime target. Every Bridge Burning may be their first album in almost a decade but you certainly wouldn’t think it considering how storming the band come at you here. Nails have never compromised themselves to please their audiences, it’s why so many have come to their side. Rather than a band interact and mediate with their fanbase, Nails instead tell us exactly what’s going to happen and what we’re in for. A fine succession of a record, and one that shows us the band are truly back.
