DREAM NAILS
Doom Loop (Marshall)
Fans of feminist, queer-friendly punk bands like Dream Wife, Destroy Boys, War On Women, Panic Shack and M(h)aol will feel right at home with Doom Loop – the second album from Dream Nails, a musical collective “for trans and queer people and their allies who love punk music”.
For those familiar with the language associated with toxic masculinity, lead single and album opener Good Guy is fairly self-explanatory before you even press play – a common refrain for men who self-identify as maligned chivalrous alternatives that women always ignore; forever the victim, never the perpetrator. The title is a quote from incel terrorist Elliot Rodger, setting the tone for the record’s detailed dismantling – guns blazing – of institutionalised misogyny: “It’s not a bad apple, it’s the whole damn tree / It’s not a lone wolf, it’s the whole damn pack.”
Case Dismissed takes aim at the police, while Sometimes I Do Get Lonely, Yeah gets under the skin of a Red Pill-er, intercutting a frustrated, unfulfilled life with melancholic admissions of emotional vulnerability. These evocative lyrics are backed up by scuzzy bass, punchy drum and guitar rhythms, and vocalist Ishmael Kirby’s commanding range of whispers, shouts and singing, showcasing the latter with surprising softness on mellow closer Time Ain’t No Healer. While Doom Loop could hit even harder and faster in places, this is a satisfying rallying cry from Dream Nails for a cause still not taken seriously enough.
words HANNAH COLLINS
