Nailgun Massacre - Backyard Butchery

NAILGUN MASSACRE - Backyard Butchery (SLOWRUNNER Records CD 2011)

Do you like all those cheap, rubbish old horror movies, with hilariously bad acting, ridiculous screenplay and even worse special effects and filming? Yes, creepy / crappy B class horrors are "love it or hate it" thing... I hate them haha! I just can't watch them, sorry, but they're just too funny and maybe I am also too much used to the big budget modern productions? Sure, some old movies I like a lot (“TChM”!), some I just watch for fun, when drinking alcohol, but most are simply BAD! I just can't treat them seriously haha. Once there was a movie called "Nail Gun Massacre" (1985)... and I watched the trailer for it... and it probably can win an award for one of the worst horror movies ever haha! Why do I mention this? Well, here is a band called Nailgun Massacre from Holland! And yes, you don't need to be an Einstein to guess that they're hugely influenced by those B class horrors. The name of the band... the lyrics... and awesome artwork are all soaked in it. And maybe I am not a big fan of the gory cinema, but I like some aspects of it… like I always loved the posters of those movies, with killer artwork, great logos... this visual side was always brilliant and this is why I love the artwork of "Backyard Butchery", because it is composed of these old movie posters. Of course I also love the atmosphere of some of these old movies, when it’s dark and eerie... The music and lyrics of Nailgun Massacre are maybe more like disgusting and sometimes even grotesque, but it also suits me fine.

I must say that I expected to hear some truly brutal and extreme gory death metal with deep guttural vocals, or something in this vein. It would just make sense, when seeing this whole artwork and concept. But my expectations were far from the truth. Yes, “Backyard Butchery” is gory, filthy and creepy… but more so, this music is quite groovy, mid paced death metal with many melodic accents – what surprised me, to say at least. Interestingly, I can’t really put some wise and meaningful comparisons, as it seems like Nailgun Massacre really did their lesson and performed some more unusual stuff. Atmosphere wise, mainly because of these sick, harsh and disgusting vomiting vocals it reminds me Chris Reifert and his two bands Autopsy and Abscess, musically though it is a bit different. Some riffs may be similar, with that horror feeling and dark, maybe a bit doomy in places sound (Autopsy, Master, Morgoth, etc), with an obvious old school way of playing and sounding, but some others are surprisingly catchy and memorable, not to mention the presence of so many melodic accents. It is maybe odd combination, but I am very positively surprised with the final result on “Backyard Butchery”. It’s just damn cool CD. It is a great listen; simple and catches the attention right away. This album is a collection of fantastic songs, with a lot of variety and when I said that Nailgun Massacre sounds quite surprising then give a listen to “Jugannatha!” and you will know what I meant, while such “Zombie Swamp” is just a pure Autopsy worship and surely my favourite song on the whole album.

Finally, I must say that I just love how this music perfectly covers the lyrical content of “Backyard Butchery”, with songs about freak shows, monsters, zombies, cannibal morticians or necrophilia. The last time I had such feeling, when hearing horror based death metal was probably when enjoying both The Grotesquery records. For me this album stands out above the mediocrity, which floods the scene. I simply enjoyed Nailgun Massacre music a lot and had some good fun. Very recommended, indeed. And now I am in a mood for some horror movies, so maybe tonight I will watch Australian “Wolf Creek”!

Standout tracks: “Cadaverous Lay”, “Nailed to the Wall”, “Jugannatha!”, “Spanish Spider”, “Zombie Swamp”

Final rate: 75/100