Nail (album)

Nail
Studio album by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel
Released	October 1, 1985 (1985-10-01)
Recorded	August 7, 1985 (1985-08-07)
Studio	Helstinki Jail, Livingston, Paradise and Wave Studios (London, UK)
Genre	Industrial, industrial rock, avant-garde
Length	40:04
Label	Self Immolation/Some Bizzare
Producer	J. G. Thirlwell, Warne Livesey
J. G. Thirlwell chronology
Hole (1984) Nail (1985) Dirtdish (1987)

Nail is the fourth studio album by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel. It was released in October 1985, through record labels Self Immolation and Some Bizzare.

Background

The album incorporates a variety of musical genres, including classical and industrial rock, and the lyrics are often esoteric. ^[1] For example, the tempo and instrumentation in "Descent into the Inferno" is infrequent: the song's first half is sparse and percussive; in the latter stages the song gathers momentum and features synthesizers. "The Overture from Pigdom Come", a composition resembling a classical piece of music, is juxtaposed with perhaps the most brutal track on the album, "Private War", a track that features one minute of various grinding noises.

There are various obscure references within the songs, some more lucid than others. "The Throne of Agony" has the lyrics "Alas, poor Yorick, I knew me well", ^[2] a paraphrase of a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet (Hamlet: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio..."). The line "Turn on, tune in, drop out" in "DI-1-9026" refers to the Timothy Leary phrase. Jack and the Beanstalk is also referenced, with a variation of the chant "Fee, fie, foe, fum!" appearing in the final track.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Sounds	[3]

AllMusic called it "possibly the best Foetus album [...] the sheer range of this music is hard to believe." ^[1]

Track listing

All tracks are written by J. G. Thirlwell.

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Theme from Pigdom Come"	1:52
2.	"The Throne of Agony"	5:18
3.	"!"	0:04
4.	"Pigswill!"	6:13
5.	"Descent into the Inferno"	6:17

Side two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Enter the Exterminator"	4:43
2.	"DI-1-9026"	4:40
3.	"The Overture from Pigdom Come"	3:01
4.	"Private War"	1:06
5.	"Anything (Viva!)"	6:50

Note: Some CD pressings place "The Throne of Agony" and "!" together on one track.

Re-issue

In 2007, the album was re-released by Some Bizzare records in a digipack format with remastered audio and re-worked artwork.

Accolades

Year	Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
1995	Alternative Press	United States	"Top 99 of '85 to '95"	29	[4]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Personnel

• Warne Livesey  – production, engineering
• J. G. Thirlwell (as Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel) – instruments, production, illustrations
• Tim Young – mastering

Charts

Chart (1985)	Peak position
UK Indie Chart [5]	1

References

1. Farley, Keith. "Nail". Allmusic. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
2. "Official "Nail" Lyrics Sheet". foetus.org. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
3. King, Sam (14 April 1990). "Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel: Nail". Sounds . Archived from the original on 18 November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
4. "Top 99 Of '85 to '95". Alternative Press . Archived from the original on 15 February 2006. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
5. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2014.

External links

• Nail at Discogs (list of releases)
• Nail at the official Foetus website