Nervosa Agony (2016) Album Review

Nervosa’s sophomore album, Agony (Napalm Records), has been blowing me away for about a month now, and with reason. It’s an honest thrash metal album with the intensity of chainsaws ripping through septic flesh.

Hailing from Brazil, the three-piece all-female band has obvious influences from Sepultura, but also from just about any other thrash band that’s come before, and perhaps early Slayer dominates the rawness here. However, Nervosa manage to bring a modern tone to the music, and that’s due in large part to Fernanda Lira’s vocals, which have a brutal guttural gravel that borders on death growls.

Piercing through Prika Amaral’s heavy guitar riffs and Pitchu Ferraz’ breakneck beats are the lyrics that address the traditional thrash metal topics of war, intolerance, and injustice. Being that Nervosa is from Brazil, there’s a sense that these lyrics aren’t simply lip service, but that the members have actually lived through some of the hardships they sing about.

Take the track “Intolerance Means War” for example. Not only is this one of Agony’s strongest tracks, but also the lyrics seem to address a fake democracy whose leaders cast judgement and would remove civil rights. Heavy stuff, and so is the track. But the chorus will get your adrenaline pumping, causing you to either yell along or to get in the pit!

There are a lot of tracks to go crazy for on the album, but special attention has to be brought to “Hypocrisy.” The tracks starts with a slow instrumental conjuring in tritonic chord progression (yes, that means that it’s evil sounding). The track picks up and becomes a great thrash tune, but the part that really hooks me is the breakdown, in which there’s a fantastic bass line that bears repeated listens. It is really fuckin’ cool.

The other track that demands attention is the genre-busting “Wayfarer.” It opens with another killer bass line before kicking into a fun and melodic guitar section… then, well, then Lira starts singing like it’s a gospel song. Very interesting and very cool, but thank god the rest of the song doesn’t stick to that format.

The Verdict:

Fans of raw, honest, authentic thrash metal will love Nervosa’s *Agony. There might be a lack of the classic guitar solos found in thrash metal, but the power and ambition is all here! As Nervosa prepares for their first North American tour, it’s plainly clear that this is definitely a band to keep an eye on. I’m giving this a 4/5 skulls simply because its raw and full of passion and it has potential to become a classic.

Rock Hard \m/