Album Review- NAILS "Unsilent Death" (2010)

Just under fourteen minutes, Unsilent Death, the sophomore album from NAILS, takes a few listens to fully absorb the material and sustain a general feeling for the record. This is my main grievance. I understand the approach they are taking with short songs, but I feel many could have been extended to avoid blending into some indistinguishable end product. The memorable parts of the record end up being various riffs that strike my interest instead of specific songs. Besides the short song lengths, this is actually a very solid and entertaining record. It is nothing I haven’t heard before but NAILS does it well. While alternating between slow, almost sludgy breakdowns and coke-fueled grind blasts, Unsilent Death is ruthless for its entirety. I sense a strong Entombed influence throughout with heavily drop tuned guitars and deep guttural vocals. Screeching feedback pervades the album, which makes the very produced tone sound more raw and keeps you from taking a break even for a second. 

“Conform” immediately punches the listener in the face with persistent blast drums throughout the duration of the thirty-second song. “Scum Will Rise” gives short relief from the grind beats with a mid-tempo (I’m saying mid-tempo in reference to NAILS so it’s still fast) groove into a brutal, yet catchy breakdown. The way in which the rhythm section wavers between heavy half-tempo and chaotic grind parts reminds me of Magrudergrind’s style without the high-pitched vocals. I hate to use the term power violence but honestly, that would be the most accurate way to describe this album to someone who knows about hardcore and metal. The beginning of “Suffering Soul” expresses a strong Entombed vibe until the drums and screeching guitar carry the song into a ferocious palm-muted breakdown. Like I said, many of the songs begin to blend in together and the record is predictable at many points. A lot of this has to do with the lack of dynamics in vocals, as they are pretty constant throughout. “No Servant” surprises with a technical face-melting solo and the title track contains all of the bands elements into one almost three minute song (WOW!). The concluding track “Depths” closes the record well with a sludgy and repetitive ending that is impossible to resist head-banging to.    

I don’t think NAILS are striving for some kind of grand innovation in music but are playing the type of music they love and sticking to the formula. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Although the album lacks overall creativity, it is still a great record to just bang the fuck out of your head until your dizzy and then listen to it all over again.  


Rating: 7/10
Favorite Track: "Unsilent Death"