Nervosa – ‘Perpetual Chaos’

Nervosa thrash and they thrash hard. It’s been almost three years since the bands last outing, 2018’s ‘Downfall of Mankind‘, and a lot has changed since then. With only guitarist Prika Amaral remaining in the band, she was tasked with rebuilding the structure of the the thrash outfit and she has done a blinding job in recruiting three absolute badasses to fill the blanks in Mia Wallace (bass/possible descendent of Steve Harris) Eleni Nota (drums/part-time octopus) and Diva Satanica (vocals/the sounds of demons). Nervosa are reborn and sound more pissed off than ever.

This is straightforward thrash with tiny splatters of death metal. Riffs grind and gallop, giving us no excuse to pause the headbanging. The speed of the music is just magical. The band are tighter than ever and the varying tempos of each track adds something more mature to the sound. New vocalist, Satanica, possess the same kind of hellish vocals akin to Angela Gossow. Comparisons to the razor harsh screeches of Jeff Walker of Carcass fame could also be made. She is seriously damn good and brings a true unnerving feel to the music.

Straight out of the gates is ‘Venomous‘, throwing us straight into the thick of venomous (yes I said it) fueled riffs and drumming that makes you believe Eleni Nota has extra arms hidden somewhere. And this is just the beginning.

‘Guided By Light‘ starts like the sound of some of the more evil Black Sabbath tracks we may be familiar with, building towards some intense battery to get us all kinds of amped up. The intensity doesn’t let up. We are battered from pillar to post, and we are gladly headbanging all the way in between.

‘Time to Fight‘ is sure to be a pit starter for even the most reserved of people. This is one of the standouts for me. We get a cheeky appearance from Eric A. K. of Flotsam and Jetsam fame lending his credentials to ‘Rebel Soul‘, a speed n’ roll rocker. Try not speed if driving is all I’ll say. We are sent home hurting by ‘Under Ruins‘ finishing the album and obliterating us with its sheer anger. We have been thrashed and beaten.

All the bumps in the road have lead to this album. I hope Nervosa, particularly Amaral, feels like it was all worth it, because this is one hell of an album to be proud of.

Nervosa will never die.