Nailgun Massacre - Boned, Boxed and Buried

NAILGUN MASSACRE - Boned, Boxed and Buried (XTREEM Music - CD 2015)

This is the second album from the Dutch maniacs of horror and gore, Nailgun Massacre. This one was released through Xtreem Music and that’s probably the only drastic change when comparing “Boned, Boxed and Buried” to “Backyard Butchery”. Other than that, I think that this new album can be seen as a natural continuation of the debut, so Nailgun Massacre again tells us the stories of the most gruesome and terrifying horror and grotesque, again so deeply influenced by the hilarious B-class cinema from the 70’s and 80’s, with some of the most primitive and bad acted gore / horror movies one could think of. My thoughts on that sort of movies was already described in the review of “Backyard Butchery”, so I won’t be repeating myself… It’s cool though that there are bands like Nailgun Massacre, which find so much influence in these films and create some disgusting music based on it. It’s also cool that “Boned, Boxed and Buried”, just like the previous album, has a booklet, with the artwork so much based on the posters and images of the old horror movies and comic books. For me this visual side, these graphics, are the best thing in those movies, so it’s just great to see them used also in the music. Especially when they fit the atmosphere of this death metal so damn well...

And let me say one thing here… I started to listen to “Boned, Boxed and Buried” one morning and I was having breakfast with my wife… and you know what she said? She said: “Damn, this music sounds so fuckin sick… I think this is one of the most disgusting stuff I’ve ever heard you listening to”. Hahaha! I don’t know if that’s a compliment for Nailgun Massacre or not? Haha! Let them decide! But it is truth that this new album sounds so fuckin sick! And that is one more quite noticeable change when comparing both albums… The debut I think was slightly more easy to listen to, it was quite groovy and had many melodic parts, what was very cool I think, especially when combined with the creepy Autopsy like aura. And “Boned, Boxed and Buried” is probably even more deepened in the Autopsy slime and shit, so the riffs are less groovy and much less melodic, but more into the gory and disgusting mid paced death metal like Autopsy, Obituary, Bone Gnawer… plus there’s a beautiful influence from the good old Death and “Scream Bloody Gore” / “Leprosy” era, especially  in the title song, which contains one of the very few melodic parts on “Boned, Boxed and Buried” – and when I heard it I was like “wow, “Zombie Ritual” haha.

And musically this album is very cool, I think. There’re many killer riffs, great arrangements… just awesome catchy, but filthy and disgusting death metal. But the real challenge here are the vocals. Yes, Nailgun Massacre went really crazy, when doing the vocals and performed some of the sickest and most repulsive, horrible vomits I heard in my life haha. Sometimes they’re almost annoying haha! Imagine Christ Reifert’s characteristic sordid vomit mixed up with something what sounds like the most pissed off and bad replica of Martin van Drunen haha! Some of these vocals sound really cool, but sometimes as I said they’re a bit annoying, maybe not always performed well… but the effect is as the band probably wanted: “hilarious and siiiiccckkkk”!! Atmosphere wise it’s all about creepy, terrifying horror, so it’s a good match with such vomit behind the mic.

But I must say that when taking all the little details of “Boned, Boxed and Buried”, with the advantages and disadvantages, then I must say that it was not an easy album to get into. At first I really thought that it’s just not as good as the debut and I felt let down. But I played this CD for few days and it really seemed that I like it more and more. I think that Nailgun Massacre is doing a fantastic job, I got used to even to those horrid vocals! So, I can say that I am very pleased with the music of these Dutch gore-freaks. Yeah, I love some of these riffs, especially when the band slows down and plays some more doomy stuff, sometimes turning it into some killer melodic theme, like the absolutely fantastic opening theme for “Meat Locker”… this is pure madness and horror show! But what a great beginning of the song, a lot like some classic Asphyx for example. An old school death metal maniac like me just must love it. And I do. So, it’s not that “Boned, Boxed and Buried” is completely derived of melodic and memorable riffs; there’s just less of them than on the debut.

The great thing is that I like “Boned, Boxed and Buried” more with each next listening, I catch some really killer songs like “Casket Full of Fun”, which is just fantastic! In the beginning I was quite pushed away by the vocals especially, now maybe I am getting more used to them, even if in such “Mad Road Killer” or the end bit of “Casket Full of Fun” they kind of crossed the line of good taste haha! Fuck it… I recommend this band and both their albums anyway, this is just great, great stuff. But remember, avoid listening to it when having a breakfast with your wife... unless you eat some human flesh, you cannibal freaks!

Standout tracks: “Meat Locker”, “Boned, Boxed and Buried”, “Casket Full of Fun”

Final rate: 80/100