November 18, 2010 | , | 3.5

Nails, Unsilent Death

Nails: Unsilent Death

Unsilent Death is 10 tracks delivered in just under 14 sheer, skull bashing minutes. Featuring members of Terror and Carry On, Nails chug through this EP with unrelenting aggression and with no regard for your personal safety. Buzzing guitars from early Swedish death metal, raucous d-beat hardcore, grinding drums and vicious barks all come together in this violent, head on collision.

The guitar tone reminds me of the latest from Black Breath — building upon an Entombed foundation with with a more raw and gritty nature. The rhythm section is wild and unrelenting, but does rein itself in occasionally to maintain a chugging base to the disc. What really makes this EP, however, is the absolute ferocity with which the music is delivered. This shit is fierce.

I’m going to make a prediction. Unsilent Death will end up one of those discs that will take forever to keep out of constant rotation in my play list. It’s got just about everything I want in bruising, crushing metal.

Conform
“Conform” opens up Unsilent Death with a frantic blast of skull crushing d-beat hardcore with crusty grind edges. If you’re not stoked for the rest of the disc after this 30 second eruption, you probably need to reevaluate your taste in music. Distorted guitars, reverb and vehement vocals combine for caustic opening track.

Scum Will Rise
“Scum Will Rise” keeps the buzzing riffs and manic pace galloping along nicely. There’s a heavy grind influence permeating through this track, but the band does slow it down a bit for some groove fueled riffs to end out the song.

Your God
Grind-your-face-off d-beat blasts open up this next track as the guys slowly settle into a more structured rhythm by the time the track is over. If you blinked at any time in the first three songs you missed some vicious shit.

Suffering Soul
“Suffering Soul” is still high energy and up-tempo, but it’s starting to build more off of the riff and not just a blinding blast of mayhem. The riffs remind me of the latest from Black Breath and the aforementioned Entombed, but with a crustier edge. The tempo shifts throughout this short 1:30 long song makes it seem that much lengthier.

Unsilent Death
The title track continues the Wolverine Blues-era Entombed-inspired tone to the buzzing riffs, but it’s the rhythm section that helps keep the mimicry at bay. This is a badass track that has quickly become my favorite on the disc. Loads of distortion, texture and gritty feedback are packed into this head banging wall of sound.

Traitor
After the longer title track, “Traitor” brings back the furious, frenetic blasts in just under 30 seconds time. The shot track is full of grinding blasts, galloping rhythms and buzzing guitars. It’s just too bad it’s so damned short.

I Will Not Follow
“I Will Not Follow” oddly enough follows the pattern that the title track set — massive, buzzing riffs and a more solid song structure. Again, Black Breath’s Entombed-inspired guitar work comes to mind here and that ain’t a bad thing. The Kurt Ballou production has been present throughout the EP, but it’s even that much more apparent here — it fits the music perfectly.

No Servant
I’m not sure how they managed it, but the guitar tone on this next track is the most suffocating on the EP yet. And, wait a minute, is that a solo!? The unrelenting, pile-driving drums carry this one forcefully into your skull, exploding out the back side in a chunky sprain of brain matter and bone. This is another standout track for me.

Scapegoat
This next sub one minute track is no less bruising as the rest of the album. It’s got a heavy grind influence (think Nasum) and hits like a ton of bricks. I like the distance that the vocals have on this one, nestling into the bristling guitar work and pounding drums nicely.

Depths
The final track is almost epic in length compared to the rest of the disc. Coming in at just under four minutes, “Depth” starts off slowly with building riffs, rumbling bass and distortion before jumping head first into that Entombed-powered blender. Driving riffs and steady drumming keep your head banging steadily through distorted noise, reverb and thick textures. The series of mosh/riffs/squeals around the 2:30 mark is massive and bludgeoning, carrying the listener to the end of a short, but ferocious little disc. Fuck yes.

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Additional Notes:
n/a