Nervosa is back with a bang.
Three years have passed since their last album, but Prika Amaral (guitar/vocals), Helena Kotina (guitar), Hel Pyre (bass, W.E.B., live for King Diamond), Michaela Naydenova (drums, ex-Gwendydd), and their new recruit Emmelie Herwegh (bass, Sisters of Suffocation) haven’t been idle, presenting us with their sixth album, Slave Machine, with the support of Napalm Records.
A fairly progressive intro opens the doors to Impending Doom, a catchy first track with obvious Thrash roots, but which also offers other elements, such as more death metal-inspired foundations and haunting melodies. Prika’s vocals soften slightly on the chorus but intensify during the break before the solo, then the title track Slave Machine takes over at full speed, remaining primarily in very aggressive tones, while the choruses focus on more oppressive elements. Ghost Notes delivers a wave of jagged and sometimes dissonant riffs while remaining quite lively, though it slows the assault down a bit in the middle, then we move on to Beast of Burden, which convincingly blends heaviness with massive rhythm, also emphasizing the leads. A groove-driven interlude with You Are Not A Hero, whose bass will undoubtedly make us bang our heads while the abrasive guitars tear into us, though they prove far more polished and hypnotic in the opening moments of Hate, before returning to effective, pounding patterns. The track plays on its own, suddenly transitioning into The New Empire, which surprises with experimental and deconstructed elements, but the track is the shortest on the album, quickly giving way to the equally unsettling 30 Seconds, which anchors itself in shrill harmonics and very soft choruses sung half in clean vocals. Raw riffs return for Crawl For Your Pride, the next track that doesn’t skimp on its jagged harmonic bursts, followed by Learn or Repeat, which knocks us out with its brutal Old School roots, as well as its devastating and scathing solo. The album nears its conclusion with The Call, a lively and aggressive track that doesn’t hesitate to feature particularly piercing solos to contrast with its powerful vocal sections, followed by Speak in Fire, which offers a particularly unifying moment, taking advantage of a slightly mid-tempo pace to close out the album with a heavy end.
While Nervosa’s new lineup has more than proven itself on stage and on album, the band seems to have found its stride again, delivering effective tracks with Slave Machine, though they are sometimes a bit short.
85/100