Nails

Burning Tongue – Prisoner’s Cinema Review

By Dear Hollow on November 1, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, 7 comments

“Burning Tongue is a quartet from New York, citing bands like Trap Them, His Hero is Gone, Bathory, and Celtic Frost as influences. Debut full-length Prisoner’s Cinema is their first release in eight years, since EP Blackest. At heart a hardcore punk band, these New Yorkers spew nihilistic sermons with fervor and intensity, dragging in influences of grind and death metal for a foray whose comparison feels a tad like a more hardcore-influenced Nails or Great American Ghost minus the deathcore.” Criminal entertainment.

Our Place of Worship Is Silence – Disavowed, and Left Hopeless Review

By Grymm on August 24, 2021 in Reviews, Black Metal, Hardcore, Sludge, 30 comments

“Don’t you hate it when people randomly come up to you and force you into happiness? You know, the types that just get in your face and tell you that “You’d be (prettier, handsomer, approachable, etc.) if you’d just smile more”? Because there are fewer things more unnerving and anger-inducing as toxic positivity, especially when we’re still a good couple of feet underwater when it comes to the pandemic, American politics, and the world continuously burning all around us. Californian duo Our Place of Worship Is Silence knows this, having thrown down just three years ago with With Inexorable Suffering, a promising album that combined the ugliness of sludge, the brutality of hardcore, and the murk of French black metal.” Worship the unsilent rage.

The Generals – To Hell Review

By Dear Hollow on February 24, 2021 in Reviews, Death Metal, Hard Rock, Melodic Death Metal, Thrash Metal, 41 comments

“The Generals are a Swedish quartet from Åmål, releasing two full-lengths and a split since their 2002 formation. 2009 debut Stand Up Straight and 2013’s Blood for Blood were both solid slabs of Wolverine Blues mimicry that, despite their simplicity, had no need to fix what wasn’t broken. To Hell, the first effort since 2013, continues and capitalizes upon its “death metal-cigarette with a rock ‘n’ roll filter” aesthetic with chunky riffs, blazing solos, pissed-off barks, and a Swedeath buzzsaw tone that commands respect.” Hell ain’t a bad place.

Leeched – To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse Review

By Grymm on January 31, 2020 in 2020, British Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Industrial Metal, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Hardcore, Industrial Metal, 41 comments

“Every year, January is the token month when seemingly every label releases all their one-person black metal projects en masse, and it usually falls on my furry shoulders to find new, creative ways to say, yet again, how a band sounds like certain outfits we no longer talk about. But no, not this year! This year, this damn January, Leeched saw fit to release To Dull the Blades of Your Abuse, the hotly anticipated (by me, at least) follow-up to their impressive debut, 2018’s You Took the Sun When You Left. I was eagerly awaiting filthy, undulating industrialized hardcore with so much dirt and grime that not even a lifetime supply of either Dove soap or Orbit gum could ever clean or freshen up.” Dirty deeds.

Cleric – Serpent Psalms Review

By Dear Hollow on November 4, 2019 in 2019, American Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Raw Skull Records, Redefining Darkness Records, Reviews, Swedish Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Grind, 17 comments

“In Cleric’s own words, their second full-length is “Swedish-style death metal that mixes in the elements of doom that [they] used to play. Think Entombed mixed with Asphyx and pepper with a pinch of Candlemass.” If this is the recipe, boy oh boy, is it tasty.” Taste the Cleric.

Beaten to Death – Agronomicon Review

By Dr. Wvrm on December 18, 2018 in 2018, Grind, Mas-Kina Recordings, Norwegian Metal, Reviews, 51 comments

“The Norwegians’ 2015 masterclass Unplugged earned every bit of praise it received as it ruined thousands of scoliosis patients’ dreams of reaching the top shelf. I’ll say it up front: fourth record Agronomicon doesn’t top it, doesn’t even try. But don’t you dare to call it inferior; if anything, Agronomicon testifies to Beaten to Death’s staying power as a force in the grind scene.” The list beating goes on and on.

Leeched – You Took the Sun When You Left Review

By Grymm on August 21, 2018 in 2018, British Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Prosthetic Records, Reviews, Hardcore, 45 comments

“In one month, I’ll be having my 5-year anniversary with Angry Metal Guy and His Amazing Super-Friends, and I’ve learned some major lessons in those five years. First, you never ever leave the toilet seat up in the bathroom next to ~~the dungeon~~ my office. Second, use of the word “samey” is grounds for immediate extraction from our building by way of a high-powered pneumatic catapult. And finally, critique the music you are subjected to without the beautifully colored shades of hype from others.” Taking the sun and going home.

Our Place of Worship is Silence – With Inexorable Suffering Review

By Grymm on April 18, 2018 in 2018, American Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal, Grind, Reviews, Translation Loss, Black Metal, Death Metal, 88 comments

“With the change of seasons, there comes the need to step outside of one’s comfort zones to explore what’s out there for new music. As the cat-guy who’s had more than his fair share of one-person black metal, weepy doom metal, and even metalcore, I’ve been craving something more… organic. Something a little more sludgy. More grimy. Thankfully, With Inexorable Suffering, the second full-length from California’s Our Place of Worship is Silence, fit the bill nicely.” Worship silence, worship noise.

All Pigs Must Die – Hostage Animal Review

By Mark Z. on October 31, 2017 in 2017, American Metal, Crust Punk, Hardcore, Reviews, Southern Lord, Hardcore, 41 comments

“The metal world is far different than it was just seven years ago. Agalloch was still a band, people still took Wintersun seriously, and this new beast called “metallic hardcore” was first rearing its HM2-powered head. Spearheaded by groups like Black Breath, Enabler, and (arguably) Nails, the style rejected the Gothenburg-inspired metalcore of the mid-00s by instead delivering a violent combination of frenetic metal riffing and pummeling hardcore fury. It was a sound that Massachusetts’s All Pigs Must Die embraced with open arms.” Long story snort; they’re back.

Helpless – Debt Review

By Mark Z. on September 12, 2017 in 2017, British Metal, Grind, Hardcore, Holy Roar Records, Reviews, Hardcore, 15 comments

“If I were looking for a way to market Helpless, I would describe them as a combination of the brutal rage of Nails with the wild noise of Anaal Nathrakh – yet perhaps a more accurate description is simply “a grindier Gaza.” Like them, Helpless’s lifeblood is dissonance.” Noise as art.