"Psychogenocide", unlike a large variety of other Death / Thrash Metal albums, made me think of quite a lot of things, mainly thoughts that surrounds our worldwide society's future. It may take a massive scale of a weapon to terminate our existence. Nevertheless, the psychotic image behind the weapon is a human being, well if you aren't not too focused about an alien invasion, you might understand the significance of what I am writing about.

The multinational NERVECELL that consists of a Jordanian, Indian and a Lebanonian, today based in the United Arab Emirates kingdom, massed tons of deathly aggression, along with strong technical abilities, and smeared it upon the worldwide Metal scene with a sense of vengeance that will tire no one. The album was produced in what I like to call; maybe they call it as well, as the house of VADER, Hertz Studios, by the talented minds of the Wieslawscy brothers. I really enjoyed their work; NERVECELL's sound is fluent, tough and accurate. The brothers' work really turned this release up a notch for these guys.

The band's capability to serve aggressive modern Thrash Metal in conjunction with old school Death Metal is plainly supreme. I could sense the spirits of SLAYER, MORBID ANGEL, DEATH, SINISTER, SEVERE TORTURE, VADER, and even a few tokens of MELECHESH that howled and growled with their loud voices. That is why the darkened "Psychogenocide", generally, might be an already felt familiarity, but with different touches that would make you come back to it and to this band as their career continues.

Without letting themselves to walk off without several elements of Middle Eastern tradition on the Arabian desert sensed intro, "Anemic Assurgency", and I was so glad that they didn't let it go, NERVECELL began their full magnitude offensive on what truly aches. Nevertheless, I was mostly amazed by the final track of "Nation's Plague" that bought me right from its beginning. Along with a strong theme, this song has that wonderful mix of SLAYER, VADER and BOLT THROWER that sent another war cry in an ongoing battle. The song's riffs, as well as the morbid passages and channelled grey atmosphere, were impressive so were the high quality playing talents of the entire instrumental line-up that turned out to be on top when the twin guitarists, Barney Ribeiro & Rami H. Mustafa, tormented, not negatively of course, with an utterly bombastic lead section that progressed into colossal solos. I can't also forget the immense brutalized diverse grunts of James Khazaalthat showed how serious he and his band mates really are.

"All Eyes Upon Them"is one of the most aggressive of tracks on the album. It has great beats, and interesting main riff that mixed strong power chords with nice melodic lick twitches. Once again NERVECELL smudged the track with a short piece of atmosphere that was elevated by a wonderful lead section by the two hellish bandits. "Driven by Nescience", another one of my likable tracks, is a more DEATH oriented track that its main riff was as if it was meant to punch a fist in someone's wall. Like the others it has striking grooves and a great showcase of playing ability.

Although I didn't entirely like all the songs on "Psychogenocide", via Lifeforce Records, it is without a doubt a good album. If the band's third release will be as this here release, you are about to get whacked once again so beware my friends.

FOTIS GIAKOUB (9/10)

When the "dreaded" MP3 hit the music scene even, if everyone could get their music out a lot easier, it was really hard to "discover" new quality bands. Furthermore, it was harder for the good ones to actually emerge in the surface and get the attention they deserve. I must admit though that the joy of hearing something "new" and "fresh" is much more fulfilling if one has the time and dedication to browse through. NERVECELL, at least for me, is the perfect example. The band from Dubai with their second release, "Psychogenocide", is really one of the best things happened to Death Metal since BLOODBATH's "Resurrection Through Carnage".

You simply can't do wrong if you state that your influences are MORBID ANGEL, SUFFOCATION, BOLT (FUCKING) THROWER and, in my opinion, DEATH as well. Especially the latter that is all around "Psychogenocide"; listen to "Amok Doctrine" and tell me if the riffs from 1:30 through 2:30 doesn't reminds you of "Spiritual Healing" era , the bass line around 3:30 doesn't reminds you of Steve Di Giorgio in "Individual Thought Patterns" or the following guitar solo isn't a child that sprout from "The Sound Of Perseverance".  I could go on and on how "The Taste Of Betrayal" is a homage on the DEATH instrumentals but I think that I've made my point.

Being from the Middle East, NERVECELL couldn't ignore the trademark slow-tempo Middle Eastern sound that lots of bands like NILE or ORPHANED LAND add to their songs. If you'd expect something that sounds like a brutal "One Thousand And One Nights" you will be severely disappointed since they don't sound "cheesy" or "forced" like NILE or a "bit out of place" like ORPHANED LAND. Listen to "Nation's Plague" and you will understand what I mean.  Speaking of NILE, Karl Sanders is doing vocals on "Shunq (To The Despaired...King Of Darkness) while James Khazaal is going brutal the Arabic way!

There is absolutely no weak moment in "Psychogenocide", no boring song. You can listen to it over and over again and still come back for more. The buildup that the songs have is what hooks you to this album and NERVECELL will try to exploit that till your neck is no more! If you call yourself a Death Metal fan then there is no excuse skip getting "Psychogenocide" or missing these fine lads from UAE.