Nails

The Arc of Nails

The pivots — what forced Nails to reinvent.

1. 01

   The GodCity Onslaught

   After cutting Obscene Humanity, Todd Jones teamed up with drummer Taylor Young and bassist John Gianelli to lock in the band's foundational sound. They went to GodCity Studios to track Unsilent Death and Abandon All Life, pushing Swedish death metal chainsaw tones into modern powerviolence structures. The tracks were sub-two-minute bursts of sheer malice that blew the doors off the underground hardcore circuit. You hear it in how Young's snare cuts through the HM-2 sludge with surgical, terrifying precision.

2. 02

   The Major-Indie Implosion

   Dropping You Will Never Be One of Us in 2016 pushed their relentless speed into broader heavy music territory, followed immediately by a brutal split with Full of Hell. The pressure cracked the foundation, leading to canceled tours and the sudden departure of the entire rhythm section. The band went completely dark, leaving Jones alone to guard the name while rumors swirled that Nails was done for good. What was left on record was one of the sharpest, most spiteful metal albums of the decade before the silence hit.

3. 03

   The Scorched-Earth Rebuild

   Jones spent eight years recalibrating before resurfacing with a rebuilt roster featuring Andrew Solis on bass. The resulting 2024 LP, Every Bridge Burning, wasted no time attempting artistic reinvention, doubling down instead on sheer, focused velocity. The drumming remained a hyperactive assault, and the guitars retained that unmistakable rusted-wire bite. It proved that despite total personnel turnover, the band's blueprint begins and ends with Jones's singular, confrontational drive.

Influences

• Entombed — Todd Jones has repeatedly cited Left Hand Path as the absolute gospel for his guitar tone. That maxed-out Boss HM-2 chainsaw grind defines every single riff Nails ever recorded. Without Entombed, the band simply does not have a sound.
• Discharge — Jones built his entire songwriting philosophy around the raw, repetitive aggression of Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing. The relentless D-beat tempo changes across their early catalog come straight out of the classic UK crust playbook. It is pure economic violence.
• Slayer — The chaotic whammy bar dives and rapid-fire chromatic riffs throughout Abandon All Life pull directly from Reign in Blood. Jones has consistently named Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman as foundational to his riff writing. You hear it whenever the tempo shifts from grind into thrash.
• Infest — The short-burst powerviolence structures and blunt-force hardcore ethos trace right back to California powerviolence pioneers Infest. Nails adopted their philosophy of keeping songs under ninety seconds to maximize real-time physical impact. It keeps the tracks from overstaying their welcome.
• Terrorizer — World Downfall set the benchmark for extreme metal drum tempos that former drummer Taylor Young studied front to back. The frantic blast-to-groove transitions across Unsilent Death are direct descendants of Pete Sandoval's 1989 studio blueprint. It is the gold standard for grindcore precision.