Nervosa - Victim Of Yourself

It has taken me so long to review this album that the follow up came out recently (2016's Agony). That is pretty shameful, as I have been pretty stoked about this bunch of Brazilian thrashers since catching them at 2015's Obscene Extreme. Nervosa are an all-female act, and it is incredibly refreshing to *not* see this used to their "advantage" as some sort of gimmick or selling point. 

Victim Of Yourself has the perfect production job for a thrash metal record; clear and concise, with the drums protruding clearly through the mix, and the bass clanking away and not hidden by the guitars. Vocalist / bassist Fernanda Lira boasts a frankenstein rasping howl, drawing blood from Death's Chuck Schuldiner and ex-Arch Enemy front-woman Angela Gossow. 

Check out this video of the band playing OEF. I've also linked the album below it as per usual :)

Drowned - Butchery Age

Drowned are so metal that I could only dream as being as metal as this level of metal. Metal!!!!!!!!!! Think melo-death, but the raspier, nastier side, married with messy blasts and the odd wiggly riff for good measure. To be honest, I spun Butchery Age on the strength of the cover alone, and to be completely honest, whilst it's easy for me to take the piss out of just how metal this is, there really isn't anything wrong with it. That however, does not stop it from being excruciatingly metal-by-numbers. I mean, if you fucking *LOVE* metal then you're all set to go, but otherwise, you might struggle getting through this.

Musically, I can't pick faults in this, although at this point you might be expecting me to. The drums leave a little bit to be desired, but this is entirely down to the snare sound, rather than the playing skill or dexterity of the drummer. Drowned are obviously very technically proficient in their chosen field and no doubt enjoy doing what they do. Personally though, this isn't for me, I'm afraid.

Flesh Grinder - Necrofiles

Flesh Grinder are a long-running gory death metal band from the increasingly-metal-as-fuck nation of Brazil. Necrofiles is one of their later releases, being an EP unleashed on the public in 2013. What we have here is classic romp in the traditional Carcass take on death metal mixed with goregrind influences; low pitchshifted gurgles meet throat shredding screams in a mid-paced chuggy bog of deathly goodness. 

I'll admit that some of the riffs are a little rough but the production is well rounded and the drums are fucking class. You can tell it's an underground mix but it still possesses that right level of clarity needed not to sink into the bogs of metal! If you know what you're looking for and this type of shit is up your corpse-filled alley then you can do no wrong by pressing play on the link below. 

Out on a 7" record thanks to Black Hole Productions.

Shitfun - Promo 2013

If Shitfun isn't one of the greatest names for a band ever, then I don't know what is. And if that cover picture isn't one of the creepiest, nastiest sleeves for a band ever, then I don't know what is! Shitfun are here to ruin everybody's day with some "serial killer grindcore" from the deepest, darkest parts of Brazil. They have a growly death metal approach to the vocal side of things (this might explain why they are named after an Autopsy album?) but the grind is a low-tuned start-stop blasting nightmare. 

I got this through a trade with the Japanese label Fuck The Industry, who, as I have probably mentioned elsewhere, are off to a flying start with a whole bunch of awesome releases in 2013. They are all DIY as fuck but are of the highest quality. I cannot recommend this label and their releases enough, definitely one to watch, I would think. This is out on a super limited tape release of 20 but is also available on CDr for those not so analogue-inclined.