I had the pleasure of interviewing Nervosa when their debut album, Victim of Yourself dropped 2 years ago, on the allabouttherock.uk site and review their album. The ladies were accommodating and I felt that they had released such a strong album, how could they top it a mere 2 years later??
Well, they did! These ladies thrash harder than a lot of bands out there and as we heard on their debut, the death metal influences, they have increased more on this album. How about “Arrogance” with the blast beat and Fernando laying waste with her outstanding, Sadus tinged vocals? Her vocals are evil. Ranging from screams to her trademark raspy snarls. Prika has a great guitar tone and she writes some meaty riffs. Pitchu debuts playing drums on this. On their debut it was misleading regarding the drumming. She joined after the recording was done and a dude from a different band, they were friends with, did the drumming on the debut. It was mentioned only in the fine print of that album. But on Agony, Pitchu pummels on the drums. I believe she just quit too. Not sure why, but Nervosa has a lot of fans now and are gaining momentum in the underground. It matters not that they are female, since their music destroys. Agony features even more blast beats than Victim of Yourself and the production is excellent. The album was recorded here in the States. I’m sorry I did not catch them on their mini-US tour a little while back.
“Failed System” is awesome, catchy and some great drum rolls and a nice groove at the minute mark with great backing vocals and chorus. The 90 second mark has such a classic beat, before erupting into an excellent blast beat. “Hostages” is another scorcher, more groove oriented, a few blasts and some of the riffs really breathe through nicely and Fernanda’s bass guitar is audible and truly adds a layer of heaviness to the rhythm section.
The last song, “Wayfarer” features more of a ballady death metal groove song, with traditional metal moments and Fernanda singing in her natural, not death/thrash snarl for a lot of it. She has a beautiful voice and I definitely hear a trained voice, she had to have vocal lessons at some point. Her voice is strong enough to explore this style a little more, maybe in a side project.
The layout is excellent, with the digipak, lyrics, photos. Agony is one of my favorite albums this year. These ladies bludgeon you with riffs, heaviness and some of the best death/thrash vocals around. If you’re looking for bands to compare, I have to say Nervosa are pretty original. Yes you will hear influences from Sadus, Classic Sepultura, Death and Slayer. You may even be surprised to know that when I asked Jason “Hey I do the Hucklebuck at the Brill Building, Every Saturday Night” Barmash what he thought of Agony, he said, “They kick ass”. I cannot agree more with this statement. Nervosa has unleashed Agony upon mankind and you need to check them out. Just truly outstanding, kick ass death/thrash metal. Buy or Die!!
