Asylum 2 is a small, dark room in Birmingham’s Asylum Venue. It is a humid Tuesday night in August – things are gonna get sweaty! My feet are sticking to the floor which is always a sign of a good rock venue.
Our Earths Blood
The first band up are Birmingham Grindcore/Power Violence band – OUR EARTHS BLOOD. The room is still half empty so they have a tough time getting people going. The vocalist Luke plays the entire set from the floor – leaving the rest of the band on stage behind the barriers. His knee length dreads wind-milling around don’t leave a lot of space for the audience but they are content to stand back and watch the show. The band have some great tracks, including; “Broken Teeth, Shattered Dreams”, “Escapism Through Gore” and “Acid Induced Bloodlust”.
Cerebral Scar
Next is CEREBRAL SCAR – Northants Thrashcore. They suffer with some sound issues to begin with – they only thing really coming through is the drums but this is sorted in time for “Terror Killings”. After the slow start the band really win me over and by the last song, which is “The Final Solution”, I’m enjoying myself and the band look like they are having a good time too.
Daemona
DAEMONA are up next. They describe themselves as hate fuelled death metal from East Anglia. Being originally from that neck of the woods myself and rather fond of some brutal death metal, I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to offer. They don’t disappoint. The front-woman, Nina Piccirillo, is tiny but boy does she have a set of lungs on her. She gives a really expressive performance – hate fuelled is right, I wouldn’t want to piss her off. The whole band bring a lot of energy to the gig. They do a great job warming the crowd up for the headliners.
Nervosa
NERVOSA are an all-female Brazilian thrash trio. This is their first ever tour of the UK, having spent the summer touring Europe. I was lucky enough to interview NERVOSA vocalist and bass player, Fernanda Lira, before the show. She told me how excited the band is to be here in Birmingham, the birthplace of metal. Her excitement and passion, not only for her own music but for heavy metal generally, is really infectious. By the time they hit the stage I’m so ready to see them play and hope we don’t disappoint them as an audience – they have high expectations of the Birmingham crowd.
They give a really slick performance and finally the crowd have really woken up. When they announce a true thrash anthem, “Into Moshpit”, I see the wide-eyed glee of the guys around me and realise I’m in for a world of pain. Throughout the rest of the set several pits open up, there are numerous stage dives, the crowd is a sea of heads banging away to these talented ladies. I was mesmerised watching guitarist Prika Amaral shredding away.
Nervosa
Fernanda has great interaction with the audience. Talking to them about how happy she is to be playing Birmingham, telling them how much the band love UK metal. She is wearing a Napalm Death t-shirt and she pointed out that drummer Pitchu Ferraz was wearing a Venom t-shirt. Fernanda openly admits that many of her facial expressions during her performance are influenced by Venom’s Cronos. Before they play “Deep Misery” she apologises for how angry she gets during the song – she explains that the song talks about Brazilian politicians and she declares “I want them all fucking dead!”
I was so impressed with the band – they have clearly worked so hard to get to where they are and live their dream of touring Europe.
I’m certain this won’t be the last time we see NERVOSA in the UK – and when they do come back, you’ll find me up front, in the pit!
Nervosa
Listen to interview with Nervosa’s Fernanda Lira here!
Review by Rebecca Collins
Images by Rebecca Hill – see full gallery here.
