Nothing leaves no stone unturned on the remorse-laden 'Guilty of Everything'

Society always celebrates the records that top the Billboard 200 album chart. Back of The Billboards is a Music Times weekly segment that looks at the opposite end: the new record that finished closest to the back of the Billboard 200 for the previous week. We hope to give a fighting chance to the bands you haven't heard of.

Week of 03/14/2014
WHO: Nothing
WHAT: Guilty of Everything
SPOT: 195

Nothing's Guilty of Everything will be the oddball of Relapse Records' releases this year. Relapse typically deals with metals bands, such as the suggestively titled Dying Fetus and Toxic Holocaust, and Nothing is shoegaze. Not even particularly aggressive shoegaze. Yet the backstory of Nothing frontman Dominic Palermo fits as well into the metal scene as any member of Relapse's signees.

Palermo had previously fronted a hardcore band, Horror Show, which was signed to Death Wish. A 2002 incident found him imprisoned after he stabbed a man during a fight. Two years in prison and seven years of thinking "about blowing my brains out every day" brought Palermo to form his current act.

Palermo's vocals on Guilty of Everything are light and airy, yet his lyrics are heavy as lead when considered in context. Opener "Hymn to the Pillory" references the crucifixion of Christ as an almost biographical statement, but it's not clear whether Palermo's being crucified or nailing himself to the beams of his own guilt. The title track acknowledges the effects of a troubled childhood on the man he is now, and yet Palermo embraces the blame. Even for an attempted murderer, Palermo deserves to be cut some slack.

The backing instrumentals further the notion that Guilty of Everything is a biography for its frontman. The layers of reverberating chords and cymbals are quiet yet ever present, serving as the soundtrack for Palermo's Dickensian, out-of-body flashbacks, or a strong wind blowing around him as he contemplates his life.

Palermo doesn't need three ghosts to visit him in order to see the big picture; he's got it figured out by the end of track one. Nothing's debut album introduces eight more ghosts anyhow. It's beautiful to be sure, but in the most tragic of ways.