Nails - Abandon All Life

When one thinks of brutal music, death metal is probably the first subgenre that would pop into your tar sludged minds. However, at first listen to the latest long player (and I use that term lightly because the entirety of the 10 songs only takes up 17 minutes) by grindy heathens Nails, Abandon All Life is exactly the definition of brutal. This album is savagely violent, harsh, and unrelenting (synonyms stolen from various internet dictionaries). The songs move from the frenetic pace of a cat hopped up on coke being chase by a vacuum cleaner to the mid paced headbangers that will surely cause you to buy stock in Advil the next day. The “slow” movement of "Wide Open Wound” is the soundtrack to you leaving a hooker’s hotel room at 3 in the morning and you can hear footsteps walking behind you. Its just terrifying enough to make you sweat and slowly pick up your pace. However “Cry Wolf” is that intense moment when the crazed meth head that has been slowly following you starts to run with a fecal encrusted screwdriver gripped tightly in his hand. These guys have the ability to expertly combine grind, crust, hardcore, and death metal into something that will completely drain you of all essential fluids. The LP is so damn heavy and hits from all fronts that you would think that the singer’s fist are punching you through the speakers.  It is no wonder that these gents were able to pen such hatred when all you have to do is turn on the TV to understand. However, not just anyone could encapsulate that hatred into something so morbidly beautiful. This is grind done right.