Nailbomb was never meant to be a band. In Arizona in the early '90s, Max Cavalera, then fronting Sepultura, and Fudge Tunnel's Alex Newport started jamming and teaching each other riffs: thrash parts for Newport, ultra-heavy tones for Max. Gloria Cavalera, Max's wife, heard it and told them she could get them a deal with Roadrunner. Point Blank came out in 1994, built from riffs, drum machines, Iggor Cavalera's drums on six songs and samples they made themselves, including baseball bats hitting an old washing machine and a Camaro braking at 80 miles an hour. Max has described it to Revolver as a middle finger to everything. The only real shows came in 1995: a club warm-up and Dynamo Open Air in the Netherlands, with three drummers onstage, recorded as Proud to Commit Commercial Suicide. Newport hated touring, and that was the end of it.
The record found its audience anyway. Max played Point Blank in full with Soulfly on a 2017 tour, and in November 2024 Nailbomb itself played again for the first time in 29 years, at a show in Tempe, Arizona, with Max's son Igor Amadeus Cavalera handling Newport's parts. European festival dates followed in 2025, and in fall 2026 Nailbomb toured the U.S. supporting Soulfly, who are also on this Sonic Temple lineup.