On May 3rd, 2025, in the comfort of the tiny 7th St Entry stage that sits wedged next to Minneapolis’ star First Avenue venue, YHWH Nailgun proved definitively that they’re worthy of their name. The band performed songs off of their debut album ‘45 Pounds’, released in March of this year.

YHWH Nailgun sounds like the feeling of holding a hammer in an abandoned building. ‘Penetrator’ opened their set the way it opened their album. With a swirling cacophony of driving electronic sound, they set the tone for a show that is hard to comprehend when not heard. Their song ‘Castrato Raw (Fullback)’ continued this eclectic set with the distinctive experimental rock meld of off beat drumming and whisper-shouted vocals that makes Nailgun so sonically gripping. They followed this with ‘Pain Fountain’, a song that, rather fittingly, slowly descends into a crushing mass of nail gun sounds. In a way that was only able to be captured in person, ‘Pain Fountain’ was the most intensely performed song of the night, as the members of YHWH Nailgun swung around stage and rushed through the song, adding to the frantic energy that they maintained for the rest of the show.

YHWH Nailgun also performed ‘Tear Pusher’, which has quickly become a personal favorite of mine. The song closes with the band’s lead singer barking out the letters spelling T-E-A-R-P-U-S-H-E-R, in a manner reminiscent of a football coach shouting to his players on how to run a play. The song, much like the entire show, was a conduit into the radical metal revelry that is YHWH Nailgun: a band that makes music that tries to kill God.

Show Review: George Faseemo