Nervosa’s Slave Machine feels like a whole band entering a new chapter with more confidence and freedom. The album keeps the thrash metal flame that has always defined them, but adds darker melodies, new vocal layers, and a heavier sense of atmosphere. It’s aggressive, raw, and restless, but also shows a more mature side of the band… one that is not afraid to experiment while staying true to its roots.
M.I. - Jailbreak was released three years ago. What have you been doing since then?
A lot has changed since Jailbreak. It has been three years and around 15 tours. Jailbreak was the first album with me on vocals. I was going through a period with a lot of concerns and questions, and I didn’t know whether my voice would be able to last an entire tour, or whether I’d be able to play and sing at the same time. It was an album where I felt very insecure in several ways.
I didn’t have time to prepare myself, but there was all that momentum. Over the course of those 15 tours, I stopped feeling insecure, and now everything has changed completely. After 15 tours singing, playing, testing my limits, and getting to know myself as a vocalist, we’re in a completely different place. So, on this album, we were more relaxed, more comfortable, and more inspired. Nowadays, everything is easier in every way.
M.I. - You mentioned that you played a lot of shows and were on tour from 2024 through 2025. How did you manage to find time to produce Slave Machine?
That seems like a difficult question to answer, because we started the writing process at the beginning of 2024, a little before the tour with Decapitated, who also played in Portugal.
We had the idea of producing an EP with four songs. However, halfway through, we decided we wanted to release a full album rather than just an EP.
Throughout the year, we wrote bits and pieces here and there. At the end of the year, we sat down to write the rest, and at the beginning of the following year we worked on the details and other things. I focused a little more on the vocals and the lyrics, and 2025 was the roughest year for us. We had five tours in six months, and in the middle of those five tours, we only had 20 days to record.
I can’t really explain it, but we had to speed things up and record as quickly as possible. I remember it actually being a very smooth, very comfortable process, because we also had the same lineup writing the album and working together. We already knew each other, we knew our dynamic, we knew what Nervosa is and what we needed to do. Personally, as a vocalist, I didn’t have to worry about whether my voice would fit here or there. I even felt more comfortable trying out different things. That’s why everything also went much more easily than it did with Jailbreak.
M.I. - So, during those 20 days, it was basically a matter of sticking to the schedule and rushing to produce a new album.
Yes, we recorded everything and worked on the final details, but we were always thinking about what we could add. I recorded all the vocals for the album, and afterwards I kept wondering whether I could add other voices. I talked to our producer, Martin, and he quickly accepted the idea.
I immediately started testing out other voices. Martin recorded everything and used all the vocals, whether in the background or a little more upfront, and we were able to really explore that creative side quite easily.
M.I. - One question, maybe a somewhat personal one: do you still get nervous or anxious about producing a new album?
No. I know my role. For example, for me, I have to practice guitar a lot so I don’t have to think about the guitar and can deliver the vocals properly, because I have to play and sing on the album.
Some songs were very challenging, especially the title track, “Slave Machine.” It’s the hardest song to play and sing, because it has a lot of detail and I do a kind of solo with my hand while singing something that has nothing to do with what I’m playing. It’s hard to synchronize. It took me more time, but it’s nothing I can’t do. It’s a matter of practice, practice, practice, practice, until I don’t have to think about what I’m doing with my hand and, in the end, it becomes completely automatic.
We get more anxious about playing live, enjoying the moment with people, seeing their reaction, and seeing everyone there involved in the music we created.
M.I. - Recently, you brought in a second full-time bassist, Emily. Was that something Nervosa had always wanted, or was it spontaneous?
Our first bassist, Hel Pyre, can’t be on tour all the time. That created a dilemma for us. We had to find someone to replace her when needed. We already knew Emily, who had played with Nervosa some time ago at a show where none of the bassists were able to play. She’s someone I’ve been following for a while, and she’s very talented.
We wanted it to be her. And she ended up joining us on a bunch of tours in 2024. We realized it was time to sit down and talk, to see what we were going to do, although we didn’t want to remove Hel, because she really likes Nervosa and wants to stay with us. She was on many tours, giving it her all, and there were also some situations that were very uncomfortable. At meet-and-greets with fans, she would wonder whether she should go or not, and it was very uncomfortable, because I wanted to bring her with us, but I also wondered whether the fans would get confused.
However, we came to the conclusion that we should have two official bassists. We did everything we could to keep everyone in the band, and so far, it’s working perfectly.
M.I. - It was definitely a good idea. Instead of choosing one or pushing the other aside, you managed to get the best of both worlds.
It’s a matter of a person’s principles, of wanting to be there, of genuinely liking the band and identifying with it. We always have to find a way to solve things when there’s that possibility.
M.I. - The “Slave Machine” video itself, in my opinion, is incredible. It’s fantastic. In this case, we’re taken back to a somewhat dystopian, almost Orwellian society. Where was the video filmed?
We filmed it here in our city in Greece, which is called Trikala. Actually, we record all our videos here. It’s a city in central Greece, in the mountains. It has a lot of history, nature, abandoned places, and things like that. It’s the perfect setting. We explore every corner of this city for our shoots.
M.I. - Some members of the band are also Greek. In my opinion, this is a very brutal album, but also a little more melodic compared to the previous ones, right?
Yes, I think Jailbreak is also a very melodic album, but melodic in a more traditional heavy metal sense.
This new album is more melodic, but it’s a darker kind of melodic and I think that has to do with the vocals, because on Jailbreak I sang the entire album with extreme vocals. On the new one, the album already has a lot of clean melody. There are several layers there. So, in that respect, it’s a much more melodic album than the previous ones.
M.I. - Can we say that Nervosa is moving into a new era, a new musical style, or are you keeping your thrash metal essence with heavy metal?
Our essence is thrash metal, and it always will be. We did bring in an evolution, yes, and we opened the doors a little more.
We like to challenge ourselves, both personally and as musicians, and we also like surprising the fans and doing something different, because when we think about a setlist, we want to deliver it perfectly. We don’t want every song to be thrash metal, even though we really like it. More and more, we enjoy making that mix.
So, there are some songs that are pure thrash metal, others that are thrash metal with death metal, others that are a little more heavy metal, and others with a bit of groove and doom. There are several things. We like having a different and dynamic setlist. There are songs meant to be watched, others meant for getting into the mosh pit, and others meant for headbanging.
M.I. - It’s an album that, correct me if I’m wrong, doesn’t feature any special guests, right? Is there any particular reason for that?
We didn’t have time. It was those 20 days. We recorded the album right up against the final delivery deadline. We were at the beginning of summer, it was May, so all the bands were already on tour and were all very busy. We’ll leave the collaborations or special guests for a future album.
M.I. - You’re going to be at Rock in Rio alongside Bad Omens, Bring Me the Horizon, and Sepultura. Are you ready?
I’m still processing the information. We played in 2019, and it was an incredible show. We played alongside Slayer, Anthrax, Sepultura, Helloween, Iron Maiden, and Scorpions. It was a kind of dream and having the opportunity to return to Rock in Rio seven years later, now with me as the vocalist, is completely different. It was fantastic news, and we’re very happy.
M.I. - My last question: if you weren’t a guitarist and vocalist, what would your dream job be?
Good question. I would be the owner of a motorcycle club and ride out on the open road. It’s my passion. I really miss riding motorcycles.
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Listen to Nersova, on Spotify
Questions by André Neves
