Victim of Yourself

There was a fair amount of hype surrounding this Brazilian trio known as Nervosa, some speculating that it arrived based on attributes apart from their musical abilities and vicious stylistic demeanor. While there may have been something to the initial hype leading up to the realize of Victim Of Yourself that could maybe be justified on these grounds, the studio work that came along with the fairly inventive yet somewhat cliche imagery on the album art tells a very different story, as did like their various live performances a bit earlier on the decade. This is a band that exemplifies the sort of tight togetherness and raw vitality that was inherent in the early days of Germany's reputed thrash trios Sodom and Destruction, and their stylistic tendencies largely reflect the same spirit of where said bands were during the late 1980s, along with some of the more overt death metal inclinations that were brewing in Brazil's correspondingly dark thrash outfits Sarcofago and Sepultura.

The reference to the late 80s Teutonic thrash sound in describing Nervosa's approach goes beyond their tendency towards lyrical content focused on violence and political unrest rather than the occult-themed direction of earlier works of Slayer and the other aforementioned influences, and actually also reveals a band that is a bit more stylistically nuanced and tactful in how they deliver their brand of thrashing brutality. There are plenty of high paced riffs that touch the blinding tremolo and rapid galloping of Hell Awaits and Persecution Mania, but cut up and delivered with a bit more groove and punch than said albums, coming a bit more in line with an Agent Orange meets Arise approach. The songs generally exhibit a level of precision and structural symmetry that is a bit more accessible than the wild fury of mid 80s extreme thrash, though the vocal work of Fernanda Lira shifts things in much more of an extreme direction, to the point of sounding like a female version of Chuck Schuldiner circa Leprosy.

As with any trio set up, there is a heavy reliance on exemplary performances from each member with no slack to spare, and they come out on top in this regard and actually manage to draw some distinctions with themselves and their forerunners in some key areas. Lira's bass work is a bit more adventurous and notable for breaking away its usual support role, particularly on the more mid-paced riff monster "Wake Up And Fight" and the faster "Envious", and generally has a prominent place in the overall mix, making for a less crunchy and more thudding sound compared to many earlier extreme thrash albums. Just about ever song on here has a solid lead guitar break loaded with references to iconic 80s thrash shredders, though the principle influence on Prika Amaral's approach appears to be Frank Blackfire, and the individual cases of "Death!" and "Nasty Injury" showcase an exceptional ability to mix riffing styles between early 80s speed and late 80s groove with a good sense of transition. But ironically enough, the drum work is where this album really offers up some surprises, particularly the eclectic array of beats and styles that go beyond repetitive d-beats with an occasional roll, though the blasting work on "Urânio em Nós", which is basically an all out death metal song that could pass for early Cannibal Corpse musically, is remarkably well accomplished.

This is a band that is definitely worth the hype, and one that has accrued a fairly decent cult following, though they are deserving of a wider audience that may or may not come given the ongoing decline in popularity of the revivalist thrash scene. Nervosa is among the better bands to come around lately that have elected for the extreme niche where thrash metal flirts about as closely with death metal without morphing into the 1988 version of it as possible. They are fully forthcoming of where their influences reside, not that it would be much of a secret given they all but incorporate the same vocal line from Sodom's "Nuclear Winter" into this album's title song "Victim Of Yourself", itself a song that generally exemplifies the classic approach of Persecution Mania while still having a flavor that's a bit further along in the Teutonic meets Brazilian extreme that Nervosa dabbles with on here. Don't be deceived by the visual on the cover, the only way to truly victimize yourself with an album like this is to pass it up.

The wait is over as Nervosa’s debut album finally has been released. I have been looking forward to this moment ever since I heard their demo from 2012, with the smashing track Masked Betrayer. Something that impresses me is their fans on Facebook. Almost 90.000 (at the time of this review) and they barely released their first album. But back to the matter at hand, does the album live up to the expectation? Let us have a look.

You will be greeted with an introduction track named Intro… (can you feel my disappointment over the track’s name?) and it leads into the first track Twisted Values quite well. The introduction being a slow paced riff experience leads up to the break of Twisted Values, and from that point on and until the ending of the album, it’s a non-stop assault. In spite of being covered by the thrash metal moniker, you can’t avoid hearing the obvious death metal influences in the band. For me that is great and it adds a lot of freshness as there is death metal riffs here and there, and Nervosa really mixed that quite good. The production of the album is nothing special, it’s basically just your average sounding modern metal album. However the guitar sounds quite good and adapts to both the thrash and death metal elements of the album. The drums and bass just fits, there’s nothing really noticeable besides the snare got a nice hit to it, but that’s about it.

On my first listen the album didn’t get to me that much, but it definitely did on the second listen and so on. What makes this album really good is the fantastic blend between death and thrash metal, and that is something I expected to be present on the album. Because those influences were pretty clear on their demo, and it keeps the album fresh with the death metal influence so it’s not just a non stop thrash metal assault. We got plenty of those already. The distinctive and snarling vocals of Fernanda is something that also draws me towards the band as they separate Nervosa from other female bands. And just look at the cover! Andrei Bouzikov once again proves his skills to create an amazing piece of art.

So, out of the 12 tracks what songs would I recommend you checking out first? Go with Twisted Values, Justice Be Done, Nasty Injury, and Envious to start with. That’s my favourites from the album. If you like what you hear, then you should dig up their 2012 demo, “Time of Death” and listen to Masked Betrayer, which is my favourite track by Nervosa so far. Don’t let your guard down because this three-piece female band will rip you apart at any given chance. I’d recommend getting your hands on this if you would like something different than your average thrash revival band. The vocals are almost biting you, and the mix with death metal and a heavy production really pulls this album up and sets it apart from the rest. “Victim of Yourself” is a solid debut that has some great songs on it, but also some fillers. It’s going to be exciting to see what these Brazilian ladies come up with next!

Written for Reigning Damnation.

Victim of Yourself is the debut album by all female Brazilian thrash metal trio Nervosa, and it’s an explosive effort. It rips and snarls in true thrash fashion, and it sounds incredibly sincere – it’s not just yet another boring retro-thrash release, rather it’s an excellent and varied album. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel of thrash, these lady’s effort doesn’t sound like an attempt to simply sound like Slayer, or Metallica, or any other band with hundreds of copycats, rather they just wrote a rather great and somewhat original thrash metal album.

Starting with an eerie intro with women’s screams and mechanical noises, the album kicks off with a slow and evil sounding riff, before the album kicks off with the first real track “Twisted Values”. With a rather dull stop-start riff intro riff, from there it really kicks off into a good track. With some really heavy, catchy riffs and some excellent vocals from bassist/singer Fernanda Lira, her voice sounding like Chuck Schuldiner snarling with something of a thrash edge, it sounds evil and brilliant. The guitar tone throughout the album is excellent, really thick and heavy, and guitarist Prika Amaral delivers great riff after riff, while there are excellent melodic solos throughout. The rhythm section throughout the album is particularly brilliant, with the bass playing sounding a bit like Alex Webster’s approach with Cannibal Corpse, it’s very low and heavy, especially in “Justice Be Done”, rumbling away with great energy, while the drumming is frenetic and passionate, varying between all out speed, and slower more crushing sections, with some great fills.

The best track by far is the brilliantly titled “Nasty Injury”, which has the best riffs by a long way, moving seamlessly between each one, from heavy, slow and crushing, to melodic, fast and catchy, it’s simply a riff-fest of immense proportions, and with the bass rumbling and twanging away at its best, its one of the best thrash metal tracks of recent years. “Envious” is fantastic too, perhaps the heaviest track, with lightning fast drums, and a real cannibal corpse vibe in the guitars and bass, with excellent vocals, it’s another thrashy monster of a track. The album continues in this way with excellent thrashy tracks, up into the somewhat cheesy “Into Mosh Pit”, with it’s chorus of “Into Mosh Pit” being repeated, its a bit dull, despite the excellent music. Overall this is definitely one of the best debut thrash albums of the last few years, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a great modern thrash metal album, especially one which doesn’t sound like a nostalgic rip-off. Nervosa definitely have a fantastic future ahead of them, and I will be following their career with great anticipation.

Originally written for swirlsofnoise.com