Alright butt, strap in and clench hard.
Because NAILS aren’t here to entertain you.
They’re here to crush your bones, ruin your day, and leave you begging for more.
This ain’t music — it’s war.
Short, sharp, and absolutely savage.
NAILS are the sound of a brick through a cop car window, the feeling of being curb-stomped by a breakdown, and the smell of blood in the mosh pit. 🧱🔥🤜
🧨 WHO ARE NAILS?
Genre: Powerviolence / Hardcore / Death Grind / Musical assault with intent
From: Oxnard, California 🇺🇸
Formed: 2009
Known For:
- Songs that barely last a minute — but hit harder than most bands’ discographies
- Combining hardcore, grindcore, d-beat and death metal into a rage-tornado
- Unfiltered, unapologetic sonic obliteration
- Making you feel like you just got punched in the soul
No melody. No mercy. Just carnage.
If Slayer, Terrorizer, and Discharge had a street fight behind a dive bar and recorded it — that’s NAILS.
💀 THE LINEUP OF PAIN
- Todd Jones – Vocals/Guitar / Ex-Terror, full-time chaos incarnate
- John Gianelli – Bass / Rumbles like a collapsing building
- Taylor Young – Drums / Blastbeats straight from Satan’s metronome
- New live members have rotated like casualties in a riot
Todd Jones is the face, voice, and rage-fuelled brain behind NAILS.
He doesn’t write songs – he weaponises them.
On stage? He looks like he’d headbutt a thunderstorm.
💿 DISCOGRAPHY – SHORT, VICIOUS & VILE
🔥 Obscene Humanity (2009)
🎧 Conform, Lies, Alienate You II
Vibe: Raw. Violent. Anti-everything.
Seven songs. Eight minutes. Your face? Already gone.
💣 Unsilent Death (2010)
🎧 Unsilent Death, Suffering Soul, Scum Will Rise
Vibe: A modern classic of hardcore violence.
Fast, filthy, no room to breathe.
Still considered one of the most vicious albums of the 2010s.
🧨 Abandon All Life (2013)
🎧 Tyrant, Absolute Control, Suum Cuique
Vibe: Even heavier. Even more pissed.
Added more death metal riffs, more grime, more hatred.
Every track feels like a shotgun blast to the ribs.
☠️ You Will Never Be One of Us (2016)
🎧 Savage Intolerance, Life Is a Death Sentence, Violence Is Forever
Vibe: The peak of NAILS’ power.
Wider in sound but still tighter than a chokehold.
Title track is an anthem of exclusion – and we LOVE it.
“You will never be one of us” = the most metal insult ever shouted.
🔪 I Don’t Want to Know You (2019 – Single)
🎧 I Don’t Want to Know You, Endless Resistance (feat. Max Cavalera)
Vibe: Two tracks. Still more dangerous than your average LP.
That Cavalera collab? Unholy brutality.
🎧 THE RIFF REPORT’S ESSENTIAL NAILS KNOCKOUTS
⚰️ You Will Never Be One of Us – Scene gatekeeping? Yes please.
💥 Tyrant – Perfect name. Feels like getting steamrolled.
🔥 Unsilent Death – Rage in 59 seconds.
🧠 Violence Is Forever – The soundtrack to an extinction event.
💣 Suum Cuique – The slow one… and it still wrecks lives.
🔥 WHY NAILS MATTER
Because they:
- Took powerviolence and made it sound even more violent
- ***Reminded everyone that sometimes short + brutal = perfection
- Don’t care about trends, fans, or approval — just power, speed, and destruction
- Are the musical equivalent of being mugged with a nail gun
- Deliver catharsis in the most animalistic way possible
This is rage therapy for people who don’t want to talk about it — they want to smash it.
🎤 LIVE SHOWS – FULL-BODY RAGE DETONATION
A NAILS gig is:
- 🤯 Louder than your brain can comprehend
- 👊 Short, explosive, and always a warzone
- 💢 No filler, no crowd banter, just pure fing devastation***
- 🩸 Where stagediving becomes survival of the fittest
You’ll leave bruised, deaf, and weirdly calm.
Because nothing else in life can touch you after a NAILS set.
🎤 FINAL VERDICT FROM THE RIFF REPORT:
NAILS are what happens when hardcore gets sick of its own rules and decides to burn down the whole genre.
They don’t care if you like it.
They don’t care if you survive it.
They ***just want to deliver violence through volume.
Want metal that’s faster than a heart attack and twice as fatal?
Want songs so short they register as punches?
Want to feel something again – even if that something is a broken rib?
Then YOU WILL NEVER BE ONE OF US…
Until you press play.
🧨 The Riff Report grits its teeth, kicks a bin, and snarls:
NAILS – TOO HEAVY FOR HARDCORE.
TOO ANGRY FOR EARTH.
TOO LOUD TO BE IGNORED. 💀🔨🔥
Michael is the founder, editor, and chief riff wrangler behind The Riff Report, an independent Welsh rock and metal publication built by fans, for fans. With a lifelong passion for loud guitars, unforgettable live shows, and the incredible community that surrounds rock and metal, he created The Riff Report to celebrate everything that makes the scene special—from legendary headline acts and grassroots venues to rising bands that deserve to be heard.
A familiar face at festivals across the UK, Michael spends much of the year covering events including Download Festival, Bloodstock Open Air, Steelhouse Festival, Firevolt, Plumpton Revival, and many more. Whether he’s battling the Welsh weather on a mountainside, surviving a weekend in a muddy campsite, or squeezed against the front barrier with thousands of fellow fans, he’s always searching for the next great story to share.
As editor of The Riff Report, Michael writes festival guides, breaking news, album reviews, gig reviews, interviews, opinion pieces, nostalgia features, and behind-the-scenes stories from across the rock and metal world. His writing combines honest opinions, humour, and a genuine love for live music, bringing readers closer to the bands, festivals, venues, and people that keep the scene alive.
Michael is particularly passionate about supporting independent artists, local venues, charities, and the wider UK rock and metal community. He believes every band deserves a chance to be discovered and every festival has a story worth telling. Through The Riff Report, he aims to shine a spotlight on both the biggest names in rock and the future stars waiting to break through.
When he’s not writing or interviewing artists, you’ll probably find him exploring festival campsites, photographing live shows, chatting with fellow fans over a pint, or planning the next road trip in search of more riffs, bigger crowds, and unforgettable moments.
Above all, Michael believes rock and metal are about more than music—they’re about community, friendship, and creating memories that last a lifetime. That’s exactly what The Riff Report exists to celebrate.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Always chasing the next great riff. 🤘
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