Nailbomb
KILLER,This CD just makes you want to walk up,and punch the government right in the face,hardcore as hell,Max Cavalera (Sepultura),Igor Cavalera (Sepultura),Andreas Kisser (Sepultura),Alex Newport (Fudge Tunnel),Great line up,You can hear the punk antics,They are awsome,an the samples rule,if you want in your face hardcore/thrash metal,buy this,I LOVE IT!
Killer Punk-Tinged Metal
Nailbomb is the side-project of Sepultura/Soulfly Vocalist/Guitarist Max Cavalera and Fudge-Tunnel Vocalist/Guitarist. Sepultura was the best thrash band ever ( before Max left and they became some hideous abortion of a nu-metal band) and Max brings that aggressive style into a punk influenced album. They both share the vocal duties, trading off lines and choruses. The music is pretty simplistic, maybe half-a-dozen chords a song, but it is very catchy, and heavy enough to please even me. This CD is all about aggression and anger. Highlights include: "Wasting Away," "Vai Tomo No Cu," Guerillas," Cockroaches," and "Sick Life." The cover of Doom's "Exploitation" is pretty cool too. Check out this band if you like any sort of metal, punk, or hardcore, you won't be disapointed.
A Landmark Album
While Nailbomb may not be the most original band, they're one of the most powerful. Ministry was the first to use a two-man operation, a guitarist / vocalist, a bass player, and a drum machine, to play guitar driven industrial. Following in the footsteps of Ministry were Skrew, Rig, Godflesh, and Nailbomb. Next to Godflesh, Nailbomb was the best of the followers.
Max Cavelera, of the well-known Sepultura, plays guitar and Alex Newport, of the less well-known Fudge Tunnel, plays bass. Together they made some of the heaviest and fastest industrial metal ever made.
The suggested intensity and violence on the cover of "Point Blank" are a good preview of what the music is like. Also, the real life picture is sure to repel the antiwar hippie types, which is probably an intentional thing.
The album has a military feel to it, but not in a patriotic sense. It's more like a full-scale destructive assault for destructions sake. The diving, grinding guitars have an acidic quality and can eat a hole right through flesh. The hammering drums can knock holes in brick walls.
The album kicks off with the hyper-speed "Wasted Life", which foreshadow the punk nihilism that partly defines the lyrical theme of the album. The music along with the lyric gives a "nothing to lose type" feeling of freedom. "Sum of Your Achievements", "For F:(ks Sake", "World of S:(t", and "Sick Life" drive their message home.
The album is worth owning for the one of the greatest thrash anthems of all time, "Sick Life". Lyrical and musically, it's a glorious moment in all of music. Forget my friends, they already forgot me!" and "Because I hate myself" is some of the greatest sing along lines ever. The sawing guitars and hammering beat give away to a scream and heavy guitar power cords that lift you up like an explosion. The song falls apart into feedback and chaos in almost reminiscent of Sonic Youth. Then, it comes out even more powerful than before. It's easily one of the greatest songs of all time.
There are very few albums out there can pummel your head like this one. If you have the bravery to listen to it, you will be forever changed.
Sick life
Side projects can be a dodgy proposition. Look at the likes of Brujeria, Six Feet Under, Meathook Seed, Superjoint Ritual, Viking Crown or any number of other projects. All contain members of better known bands who want to try a different musical style to their normal gig, but fail to deliver a satisfying performance. They're often indulgent record company favours to keep artists interested.Of course, there are exceptions; SOD, Mr Bungle, and Down immediately spring to mind as projects enjoyable to fans of the original artists as well as a wider audience. So does Nailbomb.
Former Sepultura main man Max Cavalera and Alex Newport, of Fudge Tunnel fame, combined their collective forces and produced a master work of massive proportions in Nailbomb, in the process creating one of the best albums of the year for 1994.
The basis for Nailbomb was a guitar sound of titanic proportions melded with a number of rhythms- hardcore, electronic, metallic, synthetic and organic. Over top of it all, Alex and Max trade vitriolic hardcore shouts, keeping it simple and angry in their lyrical targets. Further messing up the mix are some excellent samples, including an absolute classic from "Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer". The pair was helped out by a veritable metallic supergroup; including Igor and Andreas from Sepultura, and Dino Cazares of Fear Factory.
And what was the final result? An album of hardcore inspired tracks, combining anger filled political and social commentaries with one of the most crushing guitar sounds ever heard. While most comment on this album has concentrated on Max's involvement, it sounds more like a spiced up Fudge Tunnel album than it does a Sepultura side product. The vocals are often held back in the mix, as Newport was fond of doing in his full time band. There are more Fudge Tunnelisms in the basic hardcore riffing and some of the song structures.
The rhythm guitar on this album is part sonic boom, part jet engine roar. It really needs to be heard to be believed. Pick any song at random, except the mainly electronic "S**t Piñata", and you will hear it crushing all before it. Whether it's the unstoppable juggernaut in "Sick Life", or the hidden ambush attack of "For F**k's Sake", the sound is just staggering. This may sound like hyperbole and over emphasis, but take a listen for yourself. Anyone who is not impressed is either deaf or being deliberately obstinate.
This album far outstrips anything either man has been involved with since. Many thought it would be the direction Sepultura would follow. If they had, perhaps they would still be champions of the underground, rather than the split entities of tribalist Soulfly and the reinvented Seps we have now. This is a metal classic, in every sense.
Damn good
Damn good CD, but the replay value goes down with each listen. It's damn good especially for a side project. Just the vocals are very weak from both men. The drum machine on most songs get to sound annoying. The guest spots by Andreas Kisser and Igor Cavalera and Dino Cazares (when he was cool) are nice too. It's a shame Max has sunken to the level of SOULFLY after a CD like this and Sepultura's catalog from Morbid Visions to Arise.
