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NERVOSA
Downfall Of Mankind

Napalm (2018)
Rating: 8.5/10

Well, my favourite female thrash metal troupe is back, and again I’m along for the razorback rodeo as the venomous trial serenades me once again with a mouthful of razorblades. Nervosa have always sent me giddy with their explosive, fast paced blasts of devilish, sneering and smoking thrash.

Downfall Of Mankind is the third full-length release from the Brazilian clan, which consists of vocalist / bassist Fernanda Lira, guitarist Prika Amaral and new drummer Luana Dametto, who replaced Pitchu Ferraz in 2017.

Nervosa’s pure thrash attack is not the sort of sound you want to mess with, and you know what you’re gonna get as they embark on 14 prime cuts that have the subtlety of a scalpel to the eyeballs.

As each album has passed Nervosa have become more vicious and spiteful in their expressions, with proof coming via the recent videos for the tracks ‘Never Forget, Never Repeat’ and ‘Kill The Silence’ in advance of the record’s release. Both are despicable rages of barbaric metal led by some of the most hostile rasps of hate I’ve ever heard, with Nervosa taking that Sadus-style of menace and spiky attack as the bass lines flick and flutter to the backbone of those ear-shattering drums, while the guitars rage and race beyond the speed limit.

But look beyond the scurrying belligerence and you will find cutting melodies backed with steely solo intrusions as those political spits from Fernanda Lira leave a metallic coating on your eardrums. The likes of ‘Horrordrome’, ‘Enslaved’, ‘Bleeding’ and ‘No Mercy’ provide one big skirmish of instrumentation as they ply us with hints of Teutonic savagery.

My only quibble is that I wished the album was a bit shorter to sum up Nervosa’s sharp jabs to the system, and I’m also not a fan of the track ‘Raise Your First!’. However, the tyrannical rumbles of ‘Fear, Violence And Massacre’ and ‘Conflict’ more than make up for any reservations I had as the trio provide enough speedy grooves and abrasive accessories, exemplified with the visceral blocks of ‘…And Justice For Whom?’ and the scathing ‘Vultures’. One also can’t fail to mention the excellent ‘Cultura do Estupro’, which is rallied in native tongue;

As expected, Downfall Of Mankind is another South American-cum-Teutonic blaze of malicious energy harking back to the Sadus and Kreator days of dehydrated death-speed, whereby great walls of mesh and spiky wire rake the skin at blistering pace. The girls have matured well and have become a major force within the field. And people say that the last Metallica album is thrash! No, this is thrash.

Neil Arnold

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