You Will Never Be One Of Us by Nails

Grindcore/power-violence act Nails have established themselves as one of the premier groups in the genre with their first two releases, both of which have garnered a rather impressive amount of acclaim. They have a sound that is hard to explain to those who have yet to hear them, as their frantic, chaotic, straight to the point tracks normally fail to even exceed the one minute mark. Their punchy guitars, roaring drum beats, and nasty, guttural vocals all come in with such ferocity that they're over before you even have time to click play.

On You Will Never Be One Of Us, Nails do branch out in some ways, with Violence Is Forever coming in at a modest three and a half minutes, and the closer They Come Crawling Back taking up eight minutes of the 22 that the album runs for. Even on the longer cuts however, the band deliver the same kind of music you would find on their previous two efforts, and with Converge's Kurt Ballou behind the scenes producing yet again, you're all but guaranteed to find some of the ugliest sounding guitar riffs around. Frontman Todd Jones, who provides both the guitar work and the vocals for the band, doesn't shy away from experimenting with the same hardcore/metalcore territory that many of the bands Ballou has worked with in the past have, especially on tracks like the aforementioned They Come Crawling Back, which features some mathcore influenced, headbang worthy breakdowns and slow-paced drum beats that in turn build up into multiple chaotic interludes before the track comes chugging to a halt.

While the rest of the album isn't as patience testing as the 8 minute epic, it still delivers in plenty of other ways. The title track, which was released as the album's first single is another highlight, as the band kick off the album with monstrous blast beats that are delivered with such attitude and flair that you can't help but feel the music. They take a groovier approach on Made To Make You Fall, with an intro that in some ways is reminiscent of groove-metal pioneers Pantera, that is before the track descends into hell once again and the groovy instrumentation is swept away in favour of more bone-rattling guitar riffing and drumming.

When it comes to what sets this album apart and it makes such a great inclusion in their discography, I think it's simply just how well they manage the pacing of their songs. Not only does the band manage to make the most of even the shortest tracks, but they also seem to include everything imaginable within these tight timeframes. There are plenty of short, Converge-esque breakdowns and guitar passages, and just as many moments where the band create such an enveloping wall of sound that you truly become beat down by the brutality they are presenting you with.

In the time you've spent reading this review, you probably could have listened to this album in it's entirety, so that's where I'll leave this. Nails have yet to disappoint thus far into their career, and if you found yourself enjoying either of their last two full-lengths, this truly is a must hear. They aren't changing up their style, and they aren't looking to make any new fans, they're just taking the same style they've perfected with their last two efforts, and this time they're cranking it up even louder.

Rating: 4/5

Check out the title track You Will Never Be One Of Us below:

You can pre-order the album over on the band's merch site here.

Ufonaut by Entropia

For those not familiar with Entropia, they are a Polish post/black/experimental metal outfit who really hadn't crept onto my radar until the release of this LP here; Ufonaut. With that being said, the fusion of black metal and post metal, also known as blackgaze, has been one of my favorite metal sub genres over the past few years, and it has led me to a handful of fantastic releases from the likes of Deafheaven, Ghostbath, and Harakiri for the Sky. So, when going into this album, I clearly had high expectations. Fortunately for myself, and any other fan of this genre, Entropia delivered in quite impressive fashion. 

On Ufonaut, the band encompasses a traditional black metal style as means to create a basis or outlining sound for their music, but it's their ability to take influence from other subgenres and incorporate them throughout that really adds the extra substance to this project. The opening track Fractal is a great example of that, as the opening 45 seconds or so, see's the band weaving in and out between a much more traditional black metal guitar riff and some Mastodon-esque sludgy, slow paced guitar stylings. As the track progresses, we also see the band incorporate the use of an organ which helps contribute to the very haunting nature of the song. As it comes to end, horns are introduced, which really allow for the group to build a fantastic crescendo to what is easily one of the best moments on the entire LP. 

From there, you find much more of that same risk taking and genre bending formula as the album proceeds. Songs like the title track Ufonaut see the band experiment with some slower, cleaner guitar tones in between heavy, hard hitting moments, while both Mandala and Paradox are used to showcase the group's more experimental side, as they use variations of middle eastern instruments to help create some intricate, folkish instrumental passages. The record's closing cut, Veritas is also worth mentioning, as it's the longest track on the record and also perhaps the loudest. It finishes the album off with a fantastic climax, thanks to the final minute of the track which is full of in your face, wretched, ugly screams that really help drive their sound into your head like a car with no breaks smashing into the side of a burning building (that was seriously the best analogy I had.) 

Aside from Veritas however, the vocals do, at certain moments at least, tend to come off as rather gimmicky and annoying. It's not so much the vocalist himself, (who goes by the stage name of U, as each one of the band members is named after a letter from the word Ultra,) but it's the production choices. Like on the aforementioned opening track Fractal for example, we find a blowing, wind-like noise appearing seemingly every time U opens his mouth, and then as the album continues, the vocals become coated with an echo effect that would make you assume the band recorded the frontman while he was screeching in a dark, empty cave. And while typically that might be a positive on a black metal project, this isn't your ordinary record, and the rest of the production is rather clean and lively in comparison to the raw, lo-fi nature of the vocals. 

With that being said, the vocals only appear on perhaps a third or so of the album, and the focus clearly lays on the instrumentation, which is of course consistently fantastic, so it doesn't interrupt my enjoyment all that much. There really isn't anything on this album that doesn't deliver in a unique and intriguing fashion. It's certainly heavy enough to welcome any fans of more traditional black metal acts, but it also keeps you guessing by firing post-metal inspired passages at you on nearly every single track. A great addition to the Polish black-metal scene, and a fantastic statement for all blackgaze bands around, Entropia delivered a very nice LP.

All in all, I'm giving Ufonaut a 4/5.

Let me know down in the comment section, have you heard the album? If so, what'd you think?

Listen to Fractal, the second single released from the album down below:

You can download or stream the album over on Entropia's bandcamp page here.