Human Chaos EP review [July 2005]

Publication: Metal Observer
Reviewer: Alex
Country: Canada

"TMO’s archive continues to grow, with the 81st country that gets a review: the United Arab Emirates. Yes, Dubai is the home of the trio NERVECELL, whose first demo “Human Chaos” is the target of this shooting practice and even though the whole thing has apparently been declared Deathcore (can’t really remember anymore where), it quite obviously is Death Metal that the gentlemen Mustafa, Khazaal and Ribeiro blow through our ears.

Back in 2000 NERVECELL started out as Hardcore band, the last remaining survivor of that line-up is guitarist Barney Ribeiro. Through a string of line-up changes the following years led to a style change towards Death Metal, I can’t really find any of the mentioned Hardcore elements. Be it as it may, for my ears this has been a very good step indeed.

The opener “Signs Of The End“ at times has a certain BOLT THROWER touch, mid-paced, revolving around the variation of one riff, yet still computing cool melodies, followed by “Vastlands Of Abomination“, which is introduced by a long instrumental part (almost 3 minutes!) and varies between mid- and slow-paced, yet keeping up the tension within the song, with the deep and rough vocals by James Khazaal without a problem forming the link to old school Death Metal, here and there we even get an Arabic melody, which adds a really nice touch.

The title track then fir the first time brings some faster passages into the game, while the blast beats really go against my grain, while once they unpack the double-bass the power comes automatically, still the song overall still is very powerful and dynamic, as they also incorporate well placed calm breaks, clearly showing that the band already has made very good and big steps in their evolution, before “Demolition” here and there gets almost progressive.

A very promising start that firmly puts NERVECELL on the Metal map, without any exotic bonus, and shows that the United Arab Emirates has more to offer than oil and the Burj El Arab – the desert is banging! (Online July 19, 2005)"