In 21 minutes, this New York band’s debut chews you up and spits you out the other side in a tentacular whirr of rototoms, guitars that shriek and whine like neglected machinery, erratic tempos and frontman Zack Borzone’s choked-out vocals. The way the record lurches and reels brings to mind the classic horror film scene in which a human undergoes a violent, magnificent transformation into some sort of beast: much like Gilla Band’s Most Normal, “45 Pounds” is a font of mutant rock pleasures.
With every one of “45 Pounds’ feverish slices of panicked, post-punk clangour, New York’s YHWH Nailgun displayed an unnatural gift for hammering a groove or hooky beat amid the most twisted industrial forms. Erratic, fizzing with electrolyte energy, and seemingly convulsing between brittle snaps of terse disquiet and gargantuan slabs of metallic engulfs, YHWH Nailgun seized the senses and transported them to a realm of sheer somatic heft sincerely sounding like no one else before them.
The key to “45 Pounds’ pugnacious marvel is the electric synergy between each member. Each of their aural elements collapsing and crumpling into each other with teeming, wriggling, insectoid anxiety, YHWH Nailgun spat out their electronica whirlwinds with an effortless sense of ever-changing metamorphosis, each cut across “45 Pounds’ barely 20 minutes, never quite sure of its final form. This all makes for a fascinating immersion into their world, scoring the buzzing, noisy contemporary we’re all forced to wade through. Burnishing a truly unique voice in the crowded world of industrial, YHWG Nailgun summoned an explosive debut of an arcane, otherworldly aura.
YHWH Nailgun’s debut is noisy, clipped, and physical, built around jagged guitar, twitchy electronics, and songs that often hit like short bursts rather than long builds.
Pitchfork framed the record around the band’s live-wire intensity and the AD 93 connection. The pre-release run also made the point clearly, especially with the 86-second “Sickle Walk” getting a Best New Track nod.
It’s confrontational music, but it’s structured, not random
The Fat Angel Sings 