Nervosa - Slave Machine - review
Nervosa - Slave Machine - review
Tracklist
01. Impending Doom02. Slave Machine
03. Ghost Notes
04. Beast Of Burden
05. You Are Not A Hero
06. Hate
07. The New Empire
08. 30 Seconds
09. Crawling For Your Pride
10. Learn Or Repeat
11. The Call
12. Speak In Fire
A review by
omne metallum April 08, 2026
Brazil's premiere female thrash band Nervosa emerge from the studio once more, with their sixth and latest offering Slave Machine, an album that is their most ambitious and enjoyable to date. While it is not without its shortcomings, this machine is starting to get up to speed, offering glimpses of a formula slowly starting to take shape and rewarding listeners with some of their best material to date.
From scintillating cuts like the title track, the powerful "The New Empire" or the Arch Enemy worship that is "Crawling For Your Pride", Slave Machine sees the machine run at full power and produce some steller highlights. With the newly assembled line-up (I know, shocker that Nervosa yet again switch up the line-up between albums) finding their groove and spark, it will be a shame when the inevitable member changes occur... again; the performance across the album is one that ensures there is power and precision behind the music.
Slave Machine sees Nervosa put a greater emphasis on melodeath in their music, be it riffs, melodic vocals or Amaral emulating Angela Gossow on vocals. While still primarily a thrash band, this degree of experimentation produces some of the strongest tracks in the band's history, as the band are on top form. While "30 Seconds" might be false advertising, it is perhaps the highlight off the album.
While certainly a leap in the right direction, that isn't to say that this machine can't do with an upgrade or two to fully optimise its output. The highlights are certainly stronger this time around, but there are still plenty of songs that are unspectacular padding out the album (not filler by any means, but certainly weaker efforts); the likes of "Hate", "Speak In Fire" and "Ghost Notes" are evidence that Nervosa need to improve in the consistency of their output if they are to make a great album. The other glaring issue is the weak drum sound across the album, with the bass drum in particular sounding like a weak and unsatisfying thud rather than a powerful bang that will rattle your ribcage. Where tracks like "Beast Of Burden" and "You Are Not A Hero" lean heavily on the drums, the brittle bass drum stands out like a sore thumb, thudding rather than powering the song forwards.
For all its flaws, Slave Machine is an enjoyable album, and Nervosa's best offering yet. The greater emphasis on experimentation is one that rewards listeners and shows a direction that Nervosa should take in the future. The lack of consistency is perhaps the biggest issue holding Slave Machine from being the finished article; however, fix that and perhaps more people will allow Nervosa to enslave their minds... I mean become fans.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 5 |
| Production: | 6 |
Written on 08.04.2026 by
Written on 08.04.2026 by
Just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening. Comments
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I wish you wouldwrite better review sbout Exodus and a bit weaker about this one, I prefer thier older ones better.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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