Nails return with a surprise two-song EP and a new label

Nails have dropped a two-song EP called Fear Based Life with no advance warning, and used it to announce that they have signed to Closed Casket Activities. Todd Jones, who founded the Oxnard band in 2007, has had a busy stretch, with his earlier group Carry On playing festivals across the country this year for a long-delayed reunion.

The EP is short and does what the band's records always do. "Dollar Bin Generation" opens it as an exercise in finding further depths of heaviness, with Jones writing at his most furious. The title track pulls the tempo back slightly, which only makes the riffs land more precisely.

The label move is less abrupt than the release. In a statement the band explained that Jones has worked with Justin Louden of Closed Casket Activities since 2011, conferring with him on touring calls, business decisions and the behind-the-scenes work of running the group.

"Signing a record deal with Closed Casket Activities is the best move for NAILS," the band wrote, adding that no label the group has worked with has been a bad one and that Closed Casket has been the most instrumental asset to them over the past 15 years.

The statement also carried the bigger news: the band's fifth full-length is due in summer 2027. Fear Based Life is the first Nails material to go out under the new deal, and it functions as a marker rather than a full record.

Jef Whitehead did the cover art, and the vinyl is available to pre-order through the label. It is the most direct metal release of the week, and the 2027 album will appear on the release calendar once it is dated.