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Nails

Oct 15, 2024 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Matthew Berlyant Web Exclusive

Eight years after their last full-length (though that is being quite generous as they are typically not longer than twenty minutes or so) album, Nails (featuring mainstay guitarist/vocalist Todd Jones and an entirely new band) returned earlier this year with their fourth full-length Every Bridge Burning. As someone who had never seen them play live before, I wanted to know if the savagery on display on record could match or even surpass it live. The answer, fortunately, is a resounding yes. Buoyed by cries between minute (and sometimes even shorter) long songs telling the audience to “slam,” the energetic and even affable Jones and company tore into a short, barely forty-minutes headlining set that featured a whopping twenty-three (!) songs from each of their four records and even the 2019 single “I Don’t Want to Know You.”

When it was time for the encore, they chose to cover the Chaos A.D. era Sepultura song “Territory,” something a bit surprising given that by that point, Sepultura had left death metal behind by and large for a groove-metal-influenced sound. Between that and the thrash-like leads and even a hint of melody on the new album’s “Give Me the Painkiller,” one might think the next Nails project will be more experimental. I wouldn’t count on it, though, because all of that aside, they do what they do (a patented, ultra-aggressive, and fast blend of grindcore, crust punk, and a touch of death metal) and do it very well.

As balls-out great and aggressive as Nails were, openers and tourmates 200 Stab Wounds were perhaps even better! A Cleveland-based death metal band with two albums under their belt (including this year’s excellent Manic Manual Procedures) who play behind a backdrop featuring their new album’s gory cover (don’t say I didn’t warn you if you search for it), their loud and intense live show simply has to be seen by fans of extreme music. Opening with the new album’s “Hands of Eternity,” their set mixed material from both of their albums (including 2021’s Slave to the Scalpel) alongside a few non-album selections, including the 2022 single “Masters of Morbidity.” Simply put, they are part of a group of newer, prominent death metal bands heavily influenced by the genre’s late ‘80s/early ‘90s beginnings, but combining it with elements of other genres (hardcore, in their case), and it’s exciting to see their development in real-time.

I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one who thought that when they come back to the Monarch next time, it’ll be as a headlining act.