Nail Within

In 2001, Israel's underground metal veterans from the death metal outfit Betrayer and the black metal group Azazel came together to establish Nail Within, bringing in vocalist Yishai Swearts, guitarist Alex Schuster, bassist Evil Haim, and drummer Miko as founding members. The addition of second guitarist Matan Cohen occurred in 2002, after which the group headed to Spiderhouse Studios in Germany to lay down their debut self-titled record under the guidance of acclaimed producer Harris Johns, whose credits include work with Helloween, Voivod, and Coroner. Guest appearances by Mille Petrozza of Kreator and Tomas Lindberg, formerly of At the Gates, graced the album, which Listenable Records put out in the beginning of 2003; around the same period, Nir Nakav joined on drums.