45 Pounds
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name = 45 Pounds
| type = studio
| artist = YHWH Nailgun
| cover = 45 Pounds album cover.png
| alt =
| released = {{Start date|2025|03|21}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = {{hlist|Post-punk|punk funk|experimental rock}}
| length = {{Duration|m=21|s=4}}
| label = AD 93
| producer =
| prev_title = No Midwife and I Wingflap
| prev_year = 2022
| next_title =
| next_year =
| misc = {{Singles
| name = 45 Pounds
| type = studio
| single1 = Castrato Raw (Fullback)
| single1date = {{start date|2023|10|10}}
| single2 = Tear Pusher
| single2date = {{start date|2023|11|7}}
| single3 = Penetrator
| single3date = {{start date|2024|11|14}}
| single4 = Sickle Walk
| single4date = {{start date|2025|2|5}}
| single5 = Animal Death Already Breathing
| single5date = {{start date|2025|3|5}}
}}
}}
45 Pounds is the debut studio album by American band YHWH Nailgun. It was released on March 21, 2025, on AD 93.
Background
Following the release of two EPs in 2022, 45 Pounds marks YHWH Nailgun's first full-length release and their first release on London-based record label AD 93.{{cite web |title=YHWH Nailgun: “I remember thinking: what would I like to see instead of this bullshit?” |url=https://crackmagazine.net/article/profiles/yhwh-nailgun-interview-45-pounds/ |website=Crack |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=5 March 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Zanes |first1=Anna |title=YHWH Nailgun find calmness in chaos |url=https://www.altpress.com/yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds-interview/ |website=Alternative Press |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=20 March 2025}}
The band recorded the album in a studio at a goat farm in Upstate New York. Lead singer Zack Borzone cited poets Paul Celan and Walt Whitman as influences for the album's lyrics.
In the lead-up to the album's release, Pitchfork named the single "Sickle Walk" a Best New Track, describing it as "an 86-second blast of freak-rock".{{cite web |last1=Press-Reynolds |first1=Kieran |title=YHWH Nailgun: “Sickle Walk” |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/yhwh-nailgun-sickle-walk/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=10 February 2025}} The band announced a North American tour following the album's release, starting in Philadelphia, where the band originated, and ending in Brooklyn, where the band is now based.{{cite web |last1=Sacher |first1=Andrew |title=YHWH Nailgun announce debut album & tour, share "Sickle Walk" |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/yhwh-nailgun-announce-debut-album-tour-share-sickle-walk/ |website=Brooklyn Vegan |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=5 February 2025}}
Critical reception
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = Beats Per Minute
| rev1score = 83%{{cite web |last1=Amen |first1=John |title=Album Review: YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds |url=https://beatsperminute.com/album-review-yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds/ |website=Beats Per Minute |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=26 March 2025}}
| rev2 = Clash
| rev2score = 9/10{{cite web |last1=Morgan |first1=Tom |title=YHWH Nailgun - 45 Pounds {{!}} Reviews |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds/ |website=Clash |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=20 March 2025}}
| rev3 = Far Out
| rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |last1=Thomas-Mason |first1=Lee |title=YHWH Nailgun - '45 Pounds' album review |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds-album-review/ |website=Far Out |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=20 March 2025}}
| rev4 = The Guardian
| rev4score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |last1=Beaumont-Thomas |first1=Ben |title=YHWH Nailgun: 45 Pounds review – a singular spin on funky NYC post-punk |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/21/yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds-review-punk-funk-new-york |website=The Guardian |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=21 March 2025}}
| rev5 = Paste
| rev5score = 8.0/10{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Matt |title=YHWH Nailgun’s 45 Pounds is a Gnarly, Coagulated Debut |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/yhwh-nailgun/yhwh-nailguns-45-pounds-is-a-gnarly-coagulated-debut |website=Paste |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=19 March 2025}}
| rev6 = Pitchfork
| rev6score = 8.5/10{{cite web |last1=Larson |first1=Jeremy D. |title=YHWH Nailgun: 45 Pounds |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=9 April 2025 |date=26 March 2025}}
}}
45 Pounds was met with critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, the album received an aggregate score of 85 based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".{{cite web |title=45 Pounds by YHWH Nailgun |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/45-pounds/yhwh-nailgun |website=Metacritic |access-date=9 April 2025 |language=en}}
In a four-star review of the album for The Guardian, Ben Beaumont-Thomas pointed to the band's "genuinely fresh and singular sound" that evolves the styles of New York City post-punk and punk funk, writing that "their MVP is drummer Sam Pickard, whose playing is less backbeat than a series of fills repeated again and again: he sends you toppling into each new bar but also keeps you just about upright," and adding that "on top is astounding singer Zack Borzone, whose lyrics can’t really be made out, but they're not the point anyway".
In an 8.5/10 review for Pitchfork, Jeremy D. Larson highlighted the album's prominent use of rototoms, writing that what the band "does so exceptionally well in just 21 minutes is recontextualize not just the rototoms, but a world of experimental and avant-garde music into a sleek, four-person machine that operates with almost zero entropy." Reviewer Matt Mitchell summarized the album as a "grotesque, eccentric reverie of feels-bad-man doom" in an 8.0/10 review for Paste, writing that "the clanging, angular guitars and breathing, vivacious synths capture and hold your attention even in horror."
John Amen of Beats Per Minute gave the album a "recommended" score, writing, "Though 45 Pounds unabashedly evokes bleakness, Nailgun are too ambitious and talented to settle for generic nihilism. The band operate more like music majors who have absorbed punk, hardcore, and horrorcore, as well as classical and jazz elements, dropping out in their second or third year with diverse leanings and heightened aspirations re: revolutionizing the club scene".{{Cite web |last=Amen |first=John |date=2025-03-26 |title=Album Review: YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds |url=https://beatsperminute.com/album-review-yhwh-nailgun-45-pounds/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Beats Per Minute |language=en-US}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| title1 = Penetrator
| length1 = 2:09
| title2 = Castrato Raw (Fullback)
| length2 = 2:06
| title3 = Pain Fountain
| length3 = 1:31
| title4 = Animal Death Already Breathing
| length4 = 2:39
| title5 = Ultra Shade (Beat My Blood Dog Down)
| length5 = 1:44
| title6 = Iron Feet
| length6 = 1:45
| title7 = Tear Pusher
| length7 = 3:07
| title8 = Sickle Walk
| length8 = 1:26
| title9 = Blackout
| length9 = 2:58
| title10 = Changer
| length10 = 1:34
| total_length = 21:04
}}
Personnel
- Zack Borzone – vocals
- Saguiv Rosenstock – guitar
- Jack Tobias – synthesizers, electronics
- Sam Pickard – drums