Album review: Nervosa “Perpetual Chaos”
Brazilian guitarist Prika Amaral returns with a new international version of thrash metal band Nervosa. The result is magnificently fast and furious thrash metal!
It was my mates Tony Dolan of Venom Inc and Bark’s Martin Furia who got Brazilian thrash metal band Nervosa on my radar a few years ago. I quickly fell in love with this terrific Brazilian thrash metal band with anthems like “Into Moshpit” and “Kill the Silence” (isn’t that the ultimate thrash metal song title?). In early 2020 they came to play Japan and what a terrific live act they were too! Then within weeks of the band leaving Japan, the band seemed to be over and done. When a band suddenly loses two of its three members, that can very easily be the end. In the case of Nervosa, one of the more interesting bands of recent years in my humble opinion, band leader Prika Amaral swiftly held auditions and put a new international line-up together. The new line-up of Nervosa immediately wrote and recorded a new studio album. The result? A terrific album filled with fast, heavy and angry thrash metal. In the new line-up of the band, Brazilian guitarist Prika is joined by Italian bassist Mia Wallace (Abbath, Tom G. Warrior’s Triumph of Death, Niryth, The True Endless, Skoll), Greek drummer Eleni Nota (Lightfold, Mask of Prospero) and Spanish vocalist Diva Satanica (Bloodhunter). I don’t know how Prika pulled this off, but she did. The new members are terrific and each of them adds their own touches to this metal witch brew while Prika has ensured that the band has kept its well-established Nervosa foundation of fast and furious thrash metal. The album has 13 great songs and the Japanese edition has a bonus track in the form of the terrifically fast “Exija”. What a splendid album! There’s not a weak second on it. My favourite tracks include the furious opening track “Venomous”, the angry “Until the Very End” (with splendid guitar solo parts by Prika), the relentless “Time to Fight” and the very cool “Rebel Soul”, where new vocalist Diva Satanica gets to shine and show her metal power. This album is filled with high-energy, riff-happy heavy and dark music. It’s like a runaway coal freight-train chasing you down a mountain. It’s sheer awesomeness! The new chapter of Nervosa is a great one. Well done, Prika. I can’t wait to hear this new version of the band live on stage.
Nervosa’s new album “Perpetual Chaos” will be out on 22nd January in Japan via Ward Records and internationally via Napalm Records.
