“Venomous” is about as good of an opener as it gets, insofar as it is a mission statement for the entire record. The thing about that first riff of opening track “Venomous” is that it just fucking snarls at you and makes the hairs on your neck stand up. (I know this review is off to a pretentious start here, but I revel in feeling superior to others, as does frankly most everyone else here at NCS.) Diva Satanica of Bloodhunter, Mia Wallace of Abbath, and Greek drummer Eleni Nota have all come together to create an album that feels like they were all destined to make in some way, shape, or form. It’s as a result of this that Perpetual Chaos is, in a lot of ways, a rebellious middle finger to doubters of the project’s capacity to continue, as well as the formation of a quite formidable lineup of feminine power that radiates in the pagan and cosmic sense. This is what we might call an example of a musical entity’s fans becoming more consumed with the brand and the image of a band, as opposed to the actual heart and soul of the band. I am okay with this, as I think most are, but for a lot of Nervosa fans they see this split as something the band can’t come back from. In spite of all the compliments I paid her, great art does tend to be produced by people who simply might not play well with others. Nervosa obviously being Prika’s thing begs the question of whether or not, as a primary visionary, she might be a bit difficult to work with. While of course none of us outside observers can say what the root cause of the split was, it does force us to confront that, likely, one of the two in this equation was difficult. This is a new chapter, though, for Prika Amaral’s passion project, as this is her first time without her partner in crime Fernanda Lira, who occupied the primary vocals and bass spots since the band’s inception. I think most people would agree with me that this IS Nervosa at its core as a concept. Nervosa, as a result, is an eclectic mix of metal’s most fundamental styles and outside influences of thrash, death and black metal combined with punk and hardcore that streamlines all of this into unpretentious, considered, deliberate yet fiercely wild extreme metal that is enviably honest and sure of itself. Even with her limited English, she has a very considered and deliberate way of expressing her thoughts. She herself is a gorgeous, fierce, warrior kind of a woman with a considerably un-ignorable lack of pretension when she speaks. Just look at Prika Amaral, the band’s very face and you’ll see that, in a lot of ways, Nervosa is a reflection of her. on the track “Rebel Soul”.įrom a philosophical standpoint Nervosa represent a commitment to music that is an exceedingly confident display of simplicity, power, and energy. The record also contains two surprising left-field but fantastically implemented guest appearances, with “Genocidal Command” featuring Destruction’s iconic banshee wailer Schmier, as well as Flotsam And Jetsam‘s Eric A.K. I recommend watching all of the aforementioned videos before reading my review in full. I further used my sense of perfect pitch and my skills as a guitarist to learn to play every song on Perpetual Chaosso as to become immersed in the composition approach and riffing mindset of guitarist and founder Prika Amaral. I also did a once-over pass-through of the band’s previous work, that being 2014‘s Victim Of Yourself, 2016‘s Agony, and 2018‘s Downfall Of Mankind. I also consumed the band’s entire track-by-track video ( here) and watched all four parts of the Perpetual Chaos recording documentary. That’s 44:30 x 10, which comes out to four hours and forty-three minutes. Just for this review I listened to the album ten times in a row, not counting listening in the car or as background during gaming sessions and the like. A benefit to reviewing Perpetual Chaos long after it was released is it gave me the ability to assemble a full spread of materials to consume surrounding the album. I am also trying to make a commitment to upping the quality of my writing. It’s also allowing me to approach metal I otherwise might not take a second glance at. So far I am enjoying this odd “put my money where my curiosity is” approach to checking out music in a critical perspective on 2021. Any album you see me review this year, for the most part, will have been bought for money with me basing my purchase decision purely on the available singles, even when we have promos. This year I’ve decided to take an unorthodox approach to reviewing. (We’ve already published one review of Nervosa’s new album ( here), but now take the unusual step of presenting another one by long-time NCS writer TheMadIsraeli, who has pursued an unusually exhaustive approach to assessing it.)
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