Photo by Steve Gullick

Nah, it wasn’t that Pitchfork Best New Track that piqued these pages’ curiosity. YHWH Nailgun’s name first came in front of these pages thanks to a posted co-sign by Dale Eisinger, current drummer in Kareem Rahma’s Tiny Gun, but more importantly in this aspect, the former drummer of the great Brooklyn industrial noise experimentalists YVETTE, who arguably were among the scene’s last remaining singularly feral sounds (he also writes about some of the weirder sounds you might come across on the pages of Alternative Press these days.) That being said, if Dale’s into it, it’s going to be something that stands out against the indie milquetoast of these times, and the Brooklyn experimental noise quartet are beyond that sort of categorization on “Sickle Walk”, the latest single from their forthcoming debut full-length, 45 Pounds. But first, maybe catch up on the band’s previous previews that began trickling their way out as far back as 2023 to understand the now, with “Penetrator” being a Rorschach splatter created by metal and synth’s scraping against one another surfaces, “Castrato Raw (Fullback)” taming cacophony into a whirrling dance, and “Tear Pusher” dramatically shifting the senses from opposite ends of gravity. That said, the minute-and-26-second length marks a point of cohesion between all these vastly different energies made from the same matter of contorted instrumentation, with vocalist Zach Borzone’s rap-informed Kim Gordon-esque smear causing shiver from the friction. Yet, at any moment, it feels like the sound could burst under pressure. Which direction it goes next is part of the thrill of discovering an artist like YHWH Nailgun where what’s next is perpetually an unknown.

Directed by: Rich Smith & Zack Borzone

YHWH Nailgun’s 45 Pounds will be March 25th on AD 93 / Many Hats.