Nailbomb was formed in 1993 as a side project by Max Cavelera (then-but-no-longer of Sepultura) and Alex Newport (of Fudge Tunnel) that recorded one studio album released a year later. Commercial success was not on the agenda. Pissing everybody off was. In 1995, they played a warm-up gig followed two days later by their second and last gig at the Dynamo Open Festival in the Netherlands. Then, not half an hour later, Nailbomb had passed on. The band was no more. Ceased to be. Expired. Gone to murder its maker. Its metabolic processes were obliterated. It had shuffled off its mortal coil, burned down the curtain and massacred the bleedin’ choir invisible! Yes, Nailbomb was an ex-band. And Cavalera and Newport had run off to become lumberjacks or something.
Influenced by industrial heavyweights including Ministry, GodFlesh and killing Joke and punk bastards Discharge, GBH and Doom, their sole studio album, Pointblank, was – and still is – relentless. I seem to remember an interview with Cavalera and Newport around the time of the release whandere one of them said that if a riff took longer than ten seconds to write, it was binned. Where such restrictions on writing would, for most, produce an endless stream of shitty, contrived riffs and amateurish and pretentious lyrics, for Cavalera and Newport, this self-imposed restriction meant that every ounce of rage, hate, fury, fire, bile, abhorrence, disgust, animosity, revulsion and loathing that had long settled into their souls was channelled through the very teensy tiniest of ‘orible orifices. And with (then-but-no-longer fellow member of Sepultura) Andreas Kisser on lead guitar, (then-but-no-longer-of-Sepultura-but-still-younger-brother) Igor Cavalera on drums, and Dino Cazares (of Fear Factory) on rhythm guitar, what emerged was nothing less than brutal.
Surely, live shows would be much in demand? And as I seem to remember, there was. But Nailbomb, selfish so-and-so’s that they were, stuck to their guns and proudly committed commercial suicide by playing only two gigs. Fortunately for those in attendance, and those who couldn’t be in attendance, and those who were born too late (lame excuse), someone had the bright idea of taking a recording studio – probably on wheels, given the nightmarish logistics of actually moving a studio – along to the gig and recorded the entire performance. Joined by such celebs as Front Line Assembly’s Rhys Fulber on keyboards and sampler, Neurosis’ Dave Edwardson and Biohazard’s Evan Seinfeld on bass, and The Dead Kennedy’s DH Peligro on drums among others, the performance is nothing less than brutal. And that’s because Nailbomb do – or rather, did – nothing less than brutal.
Almost 30-years-old, Pointblank is still a bruiser, and Proud to Commit Commercial Suicide captures a lethal performance. Featuring liner notes by Cavalera on the history and the impact of the band and an interview with Danny Marianino from North Side Kings, the man that knocked Glenn Danzig down, this 2CD release is a must have. Buy it. Play it. Loud.
Words by Jason Guest
Released on 16 June 2023 through Cherry Red Records and available here
Disc 1: Point Blank
- Wasting Away
- Vai Toma No Cu
- 24 Hour Bullshit
- Guerrillas
- Blind And Lost
- Sum Of Your Achievements
- Cockroaches
- For Fuck’s Sake
- World Of Shit
- Exploitation
- Religious Cancer
- Shit Pinata
- Sick Life
Disc 2: Proud To Commit Commercial Suicide
- Wasting Away (live)
- Guerrillas (live)
- Cockroaches (live)
- Vai Toma No Cu (live)
- Sum Of Your Achievements (live)
- Religious Cancer (live)
- Police Truck (live)
- Exploitation (live)
- World Of Shit (live)
- Blind And Lost (live)
- Sick Life (live)
- While You Sleep, I Destroy Your World
- Zero Tolerance
