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Victim of Yourself (2014) is the debut full-length studio album by Brazilian all female thrash metal trio Nervosa. They previously released a three track demo in 2012, that shared it's name with its release year. They were picked up by Napalm Records shortly after who rereleased the demo as an EP with the new name of Time of Death, as well as a new cover art, but it is the same release. Victim of Yourself marks the group's first new material for the label. For a band so early into their career they've kicked off with a more than respectable momentum with thrash musicians such as Max Cavalera (ex-Sepultura), Schmier (Destruction) and Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Overkill) among others singing their praises.
It's not hard to hear why. Victim of Yourself is a no nonsense work of thrash metal that is fast, heavy and aggressively delivered in both its instrumentation and vocals. It's something of a one dimensional sound admittedly, but the music is delivered with such power that I for one was instantly won over by it. The riffs by guitarist Prika Amaral are a particular highlight; a representation of just how satisfying such a no frills attached thrash metal album can be. She also throws in the odd lead here and there, typically brief additions to the sound that add flavour to the songs.
The vocals of Fernanda Lira (also bassist) only add to this feeling. She screams and snarls her way through the songs, with death growls also featured at times, such as during Justice be Done. The band, which is completed by drummer Pitchu Ferraz, thrash their way through eleven tracks following the opening song Intro, which builds up towards the thrash metal assault that is set to begin with Twisted Values. In my mind although thrash metal is typically considered to be an extreme metal sub-genre, a lot of thrash isn't actually that extreme by modern standards, but Victim of Yourself sees fit to remind everyone what the genre is all about, and do it very convincingly.
Victim of Yourself may not break any moulds, but when you get a band that thrashes as hard as Nervosa do then at the end of the day who cares? I certainly don't and while this may not be the best thrash metal album ever released it's certainly still of a very high quality and the three ladies that make up Nervosa have certainly shown with this debut that they have the musicianship, attitude and passion to go far and that they mean business.