UMUR
"Every Bridge Burning" is the fourth full-length studio album by US, California based hardcore/powerviolence act Nails. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Entertainment in August 2024. It´s the successor to "You Will Never Be One of Us" from 2016 and there´s been an almost complete lineup change since the predecessor as only guitarist/lead vocalist Todd Jones remains from the lineup who recorded "You Will Never Be One of Us". New in the lineup are Andrew Solis (bass), Carlos Cruz (drums), and Shelby Lermo (guitars).
Stylistically Nails play a hardcore style with both influences from grindcore, crust punk, and sludge. It´s punchy and in our face music, loaded with caustic aggression and raw power. Jones has a shouting/screaming angry vocal style, which suits the music well. Featuring only 10 tracks and a 17:44 minutes long playing time, Nails haven´t made a long album, but it´s fully in line with album lengths of their previous releases, so this is what the seasoned listener expects. What is most noteworthy when keeping in mind that "Every Bridge Burning" is a very short album release, is how many different influences and varition Nails are able to pack into their otherwise one-dimensionally raw and aggressive music style. It´s always been one of their greatest assets, that you´re never bored when listening to their albums, as they always include something new or some little detail, that you didn´t expect (I was for example plesantly surprised by the few times guitar solos appeared). It´s not exactly progressive music, but the point is that Nails arguably put a lot of thought into their pretty extreme take on hardcore.
"Every Bridge Burning" features a raw, distorted, and considering their status on the scene, a relatively unpolished sound production, which suits the materal well. Nails understand that this type of music can´t be presented in a clear and polished sound production without losing integrity and authenticity. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.