Nervosa
Special Guests: Plaguemace + Descendancy
Venue: Corporation, Sheffield.
Date: 24th May 2023.
Review By: Rob Woodhouse
The dust at Bramall Lane has hardly settled after Sheffield’s big rock show of the summer, but we’re back in South Yorkshire again and ready for some vicious death-thrash courtesy of Nervosa. Monday night gave us an enjoyable but slightly plodding run-through of Motley Crue and Def Leppard’s back catalogues; tonight, is going to be a bit more lively…
Descendancy
Providing the bridge between Motley Crue and our destination of Nervosa are tonight’s openers, Descendancy. Their lead guitar player is sporting a Crue backpatch, but these guys are heavier and faster than Vince and Co. There’s a big anthemic rock element to what Descendancy do, but that’s mixed in with some serious metal to boot. As we raise our beers in the air to tracks like ‘Intoxicated’, a warm and dozy Wednesday night starts to get a good kick in the arse by the Descendancy boys.
Descendancy have just dropped their new single onto a streaming platform near you. ‘Perfect Hatred’ goes down well tonight with what we suspect is a crowd healthy of folk that are already converted to the Descendancy cause.
It’s an enjoyable start to proceedings with the band reminding us of some old Bullet For My Valentine and maybe a bit of Still Remains… remember them? 
(3.5 / 5)
Plaguemace
Denmark’s Plaguemace are the main support for the whole of this tour, and they are a whole different kettle of fish to what we’ve just seen. Imagine a Point Break era Patrick Swayze, who has just been rescued by Vikings while riding the fifty-year storm, and they are all semi-naked up on Corporation’s stage while their clothes dry out. That’s what Plaguemace look like…
We’re not here to take the piss, Plaguemace can do that for themselves. They are every bit as fun as they are brutal, as they unleash some big old death metal riffs and Danish growls on our unsuspecting ears. From their lead singer (Swayze) brushing his teeth on stage to using Corp’s bar as a back-up stage, he is a whirlwind of energy, but that can be said of the whole band as they narrowly avoid collisions and stitches traversing the stage and the dance floor.
Three out of the five members of the band finish off the set down on the floor as they inject some serious life into the Sheffield crowd. It’s fair to say that nobody will forget Plaguemace anytime soon! 
(4.5 / 5)
Nervosa
Headliners Nervosa have had more line-up changes than the Sugababes over the years but with founding member Prika Amaral at the forefront taking care of guitars and now the vocals too, we know things are well under control.
It’s an assured and professional performance throughout from these death-thrash ladies, with the crowd erupting into mini circle pits on the thrashier songs, such as new live staple ‘Venomous’. ‘Kill the Silence’ is an older number dedicated to those suffering from abuse that has a huge girthy thick riff and Prika doesn’t hold back with the scouring vocals to make sure any lingering cobwebs are well and truly blown away. Whatever the message behind the individual songs, they are all seriously heavy.
Nervosa don’t dominate the stage quite like their predecessors, Plaguemace, letting the strength and heaviness of their songs do most of the wowing. Helena Kotina is the star of the show, however, as she rips through her solos and epic intros with true guitar-squealing wizardry.
The latest single from Nervosa has been bouncing around YouTube et al. for a few weeks now and really sounds promising for this latest era of the band. Endless Ambition has a steamroller of a riff with some nasty old vocals that wets our appetite for the upcoming album and hopefully a return to our shores soon.
All in all, it’s a cracking evening in Sheffield with three diverse bands that made up a great package to give hump day an almighty kicking. And we didn’t hear a power ballad all night… 
(4 / 5)
