Before we as a society start scratching and clawing our way into another year, another pandemic and another decline into a life of anxiety and dejection; Indiana's heavy-grinders, Nak'ay, snuck a full-length in under the wire with November 2021's Closed Doors/Open Veins. A release that is just in time to hopefully make everyone's end of the year list of the most essential grindcore records. Nak'ay might not be a band on the tip of the tongue of the casual grind listener, but they are not a band to turn your nose up at. Nak'ay are technically proficient and musically prolific. In their 13 years as a band they have put out almost 20 releases in the form of demos, compilations and split EP's with the likes of Archagathus, Deterioration, Sick/Tired, Suffering Mind, Lycanthrophy and Unholy Grave among others. But this past year brought the band their first full-length consisting of 17 tracks in almost 15 minutes. (Quick aside: in 2017 I had the pleasure of seeing Nak'ay live in Dallas with Fiend and Deterioration on tour between SummerGrindFest and Maryland Deathfest. It was a lax, yet robust show. And is the one and only time that I've seen a drummer implement gravity-blasts in the wild.)
Closed Doors/Open Veins falls right atop the Nak'ay evolutionary timeline not only in the journey from years of splits to finally a full-length, but also as the pinnacle of the band's sound, style and production. Nak'ay's 2009 demo, 260 Raw Grinding Bestial Black Metal Punk Noise Devastation, as the title implies, started the band off as a low-fi black metal grind act. Through the years and through the splits they've slowly honed their style and, incrementally, their production value. Somewhere around 2013's split 10" with Archagathus, the band settled into their current sound. Developing from their raw black metal roots and death-grind freshman releases to their present-day lean, white-hot version of grindcore. Like seriously, Nak'ay is startlingly fast and trimly. The drumming heard here within is absolutely crushing and incessant. Again, fervid fucking hot. Guaranteed Nak'ay is doling out more abject blasting in less time with more command than easily any of the grindcore bands that you're thinking of in your head right now.
Closed Doors/Open Veins keeps nearly every song under a minute. Sometimes way under a minute with songs like "Famine Worship" which clocks in at a mere 14 seconds long. Yet it still retains all the same through lines that the band has patented over the last decade or so: hyper-blasting bpm's, scathing guitar, strobing stop/starts and ghostly noise. All under the shadow of the black metal fundamentals founded long ago. It is these naturally developed skills that give Nak'ay edge over most.
Showing up sporadically throughout past releases, the noise elements usually consist of distorted audio samples overdubbed with feedback and ambient grime that lend an atmosphere to the songs. The audio samples on this record appear to be in Spanish which could be easily written off as nonsensical, and I for one am not going to pretend that I know exactly what all is being said in between the lines here. But instead, they hold weight and create a tone of gravity and dread. They convey the ominous funereal air of unease and sincerity that is the backdrop for Closed Doors/Open Veins. Not to mention several song titles are in fact in Spanish. So there is an overall theme that hadn't previously been explored before. At least not to this length. It's not too overly done yet is highly effective. Attention was paid to what was put into the mix.
In addition, those black metal dregs that still remain from the band's formative beginnings still course and seethe underneath the lightning quick songs. In the very brief instances that the snare isn't blasting a hundred miles an hour, the guitars take advantage to either lash out some electrified blackened tanglings or some mosh-heavy, metal-laden chugging that are gone just as soon as the appear. These are most on display on the two closing tracks of each side of the vinyl: side A's "Nació Para La Violencia" and side B's "Nunca Va A Cambiar." These two tracks nearly wholly make up the over-the-one-minute-mark songs and are steeped in the same warped tape chatter atmosphere. But here they are allowed the room to stretch their legs and really showcase the multifaceted, albeit, whirring guitar work.
There's something to be said about speed. Brash unrelenting speed. Subdued in brevity and implemented inside cold indifference. Speed that rarely strays too far before avalanching back into a sea of abrupt snare hits. Nak'ay is a perfect machine. And Closed Doors/Open Veins is a candid take on a grindcore album that ties brute force together with guitarist marksmanship through the sinew of razor-sharp composition. It doesn't get much more solid than this. Closed Doors/Open Veins is currently on sale on vinyl and CD through EveryDayHate Records, Psychocontrol Records and the band directly. Nak'ay already have another split release with Hate For Humanity coming out this week [January 7th] for pre-order on Wise Grinds Records. So I think it's safe to say that Nak'ay don't plan on slowing things down any time soon when it comes to tempo or material output.
FFO: Insect Warfare, PLF, Deterioration, Shit Life
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