Nail

Following the both curious and revelatory stylistic detour provided by the previous year's largely acoustic and country-fried Starve the Dead EP, Richmond, VA's Throttlerod resumed their usual heavy rock stock-in-trade for a third full-length album with a nondescript title, 2006's Nail. And how: over the course of ten songs and 40-odd minutes, the trio wastes little time on dynamic variety in order to take full advantage of producer Andrew Schneider's (Cave In, Milligram, the Blue Man Group) in-your-face but distinctly dry-sounding mix. This, when married to the layered precision riffing made possible by main man Matt Whitehead's being the only guitar player left in the band, lends new cuts like "Prizefighter," "Shovel," and the bass-heavy "Stand 'Em Up" a taught discipline reminiscent of Helmet. Elsewhere, speedy cuts boasting shouted choruses such as "Big Name," "Teething," and the title cut split the genre differences between hardcore and stoner rock, while on the noticeably grungier "Horse Paw," "A Fly on the Fault Line," "Rabbit," and "Indian Head," Whitehead takes on a Chris Cornell-like growl to complement the often Soundgarden-reminiscent guitar parts and start-stop punctuations on display. Ultimately, it all adds up to a derivative but not exactly imitative selection of songs, whose greatest deficiency is simply not being all that memorable when all is said and done. Avowed Throttlerod fans will likely find much to enjoy, but for neophytes Nail is a competent, workmanlike, decidedly unspectacular outing overall.