Live Review : Nervosa + Burning Witches + Bloodyard @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 18th 2022

Its Easter so a good resurrection story is fitting. In 2020 Brazilian thrashers, Nervosa imploded with the rest of the band walking away from founder Prika Amaral. Rather than see this as some sort of sign that she should do something else with her life, she managed to recruit three new members without actually meeting them (we were slap in the middle of a global pandemic). The miraculous part is the amount of chemistry that there is between this freshly reincarnated unit. But more about that later.

Bloodyard are first out of the traps, and they fall foul of the gods of technical difficulties. Their sound is atrocious and stays atrocious for the entire set. At one point leader growler Donna Hurd exits the stage and marches to the sound desk in order to sort it out. They soldier on, and kudos to them for doing so, but Nick Adamson’s guitar continues to sound like it is being channelled through an old tin bath. The fact of the matter is that they usually have a really interesting mix of style and genre going on with the folding together of gruff vocals, galloping thrash guitar and groove like backline. But tonight, you can’t hear that subtle mix of textures and it just comes out murky and unrefined. None of this is the band’s fault and Donna shepherds them through the set admirably with good humour and a bold Lancastrian spirit. I just wished it could have been a more pleasant audio experience. Next time guys?

It is clear who a fair chunk of tonight’s attendance are here to see. No sooner than Bloodyard have signed off, than a gaggle of exclusively middle aged and battle jacket clad men hold siege at the front of the stage. There are Burning Witches t-shirts everywhere and there is a real sense of expectation for their Northwest debut. They emerge to mass adulation, and it is abundantly clear from the off that they embrace every metal cliché available. Their attire is unashamedly Victoria Secrets, the bondage edition and they regularly swap positions in wonderfully synchronised swoops. This is a slick, well-rehearsed show with every member acutely aware of their queues. What it might lack in spontaneity gains in entertainment value as they take fifty years of heavy metal and distil it in a blissfully enjoyable hour. As I said every cliché is brought away to play and that is its charm. There are the air siren screams from Laura Guldemond, the dual guitar duelling from Romana Kalkuhl and new girl Larissa Ernst and choruses you could get an entire squadron on.

It is immaculately staged, and every track feels like its own little mini-rock opera. ‘We Stand as One’ as a real urgency to it. Like a call to arms and the throbbing masses at the front of the stage lustfully (and believe me there is a lot of lust going around) bellow along. Laura states that they have had not one, but two albums released during the pandemic (2020’s “Dance with the Devil” and last year’s “The Witch of the North”) and her joy in being able to finally debut these tracks in a live setting is obvious. Musically this is all traditional twin guitars fuelled metal, very much in the Priest and Accept mould. Again, hugely cliched, but that does not matter an inch when it is done so well and with such vigour and charm.

With two songs to go Laura mentions that it is the end of not only the UK leg of the tour but the whole European endeavour. There is a flurry of thank you’s which she truncates when she realises that she won’t remember everyone and then she welcomes members of the crowd up to dance as they crash into “Dance with the Devil’s” title track. It is the only part of their beautifully orchestrated set where a level of chaos and disorder descends. A dozen willing volunteers gate-crash the stage and headbang their way not only through the number, but also into the closing track. It may hamper their well-honed stage moves, but it shows the love that there is for this band. Keeping with the cliches, the interlopers are hastily shown the exit, so that we can get the theatrical bow and more platitudes and thanks (including a shout out to the administrator of their fan lead Facebook site). Burning Witches may well be playing with well used toys, but that does not matter. They provide sixty minutes of high octane and well-polished fun. They have embraced the absurdities of metal and managed to make a virtue out of revelling in it.

The crowd has thinned significantly for Nervosa as it becomes obvious that for many their tour mates were the main draw. This is a huge shame as tonight they are firing on all cylinders. As I said at the start, this is a new incarnation of the band, but the chemistry that there is between the four of them gives off the impression that they have been playing together for years. In contrast to Burning Witches slick stage moves, Nervosa are a much rawer and more primal affair. There are no synchronised endeavours here, instead they own their little piece of the stage (including Mia’s pillar). As their amp’s state this is thrash mixed with the brutality of death metal. It is harsh, visceral and utterly exhilarating.

Given the fact that this tour is prompting the first record by Nervosa 2.0, the vast majority of the set comes from “Perpetual Chaos”. However a newcomer would be hard pressed to find the divide as they have retained the fist pumping intensity that made them such an enticing proposition in the first place. What they have added to the mix though is oodles of chemistry. You can really feel the bond between Prika, Diva, Eleni and Mia as they bounce off each other both actually and metaphorically. They tease Mia about her position stuck behind that dreaded pole and she responds by stating, whilst simultaneously sensually stroking it, that she is in a meaningful relationship with it. Laura from Burning Witches joins them for a majestic finale of ‘Rebel Soul’, concurrently bombastic and ferocious and then it’s a frenzied canter to the finish with ‘Guided by Evil’ and ‘Under Ruins’. Nervosa may have struggled to keep the crowd, but this evening they are utterly ferocious. The line up change has done them the world of good and they have emerged from their chrysalis a much more focused crushing machine. Expect big things….