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Metal Chick of the Month – Fernanda Lira

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Join the army, get in the violent mosh!

There’s nothing better than revving up the engines of 2018 with the thunderous sound blasted by one of the meanest and most humble bassists in contemporary Thrash Metal, a woman who not only kicks some serious ass with her roaring bass guitar, but who’s also an accomplished Extreme Metal vocalist, growling and gnarling like a beast anywhere she goes for our total delight. With that said, please welcome as our first metal chick of the year the stunning and electrifying Brazilian musician Fernanda Lira, better known as the lead singer and bassist for Brazilian all-female Thrash Metal power trio Nervosa. And you better be ready, because Fernanda will accelerate your heart and mercilessly rock you like a hurricane with all her passion for heavy music, her devilish screams and, above all, the groovy wallops of her mighty bass.

Fernanda B. Lira was born on September 9, 1989 in São Paulo, one of the world’s most populous cities with over 20 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, having discovered her love for heavy music and for playing bass guitar at the age of 13, being influenced by her father, who was also a bass player (and with whom she remembers “jamming” with his acoustic guitar or “playing drums” on the leather couch as a child while he played) and a huge fan of bands like KISS and Venom, and by her biggest idol since childhood, Iron Maiden’s one and only Steve Harris. Furthermore, she never attended classes to learn how to play bass, always using her instincts and utter dedication to develop her skills as a musician, blending all that with her endless energy and aggressiveness to make her playing style truly unique. And despite deciding she wanted to be in a band when she was around 15 years old, Fernanda undertook several other endeavors before becoming (and even when she was already) the frontwoman for Nervosa, as for example studying journalism at Faculdade Cásper Líbero (the oldest journalism school in Latin America), working as an English teacher, and presenting a show called Heavy Nation on Rádio UOL together with her friend Julio Feriato from 2012 until 2015, among other projects.

Highly inspired by the aforementioned Steve Harris and by other renowned bassists such as Geezer Butler, Steve Di Giorgio, Geddy Lee, Ron Royce and Markus Grosskopf, our badass Fernanda eliminated the use of picks and dedicated herself to playing with her fingers, also trying to take down from the bass the function of only “marking” the rhythm of the music. Moreover, regarding her vocal inspirations, Fernanda has always tried to learn how to sing by imitating her metal idols Tarja Turunen, Michael Kiske and Geoff Tate; however, after she started working with more aggressive vocal-inspired bands, she began to migrate to a different style of singing, leaning towards a similar style used by extreme music singers Tom Araya (the iconic vocalist and bassist for Thrash Metal behemoths Slayer) and Schmier (from Teutonic Thrash Metal legends Destruction).

Before joining Nervosa, Fernanda was part of two other Brazilian metal bands, both hailing from the city of São Paulo, those being the all-female Heavy Metal act Hellgard (who played more melodic material the likes of Helloween and Edguy), from 2008 to 2009, and Thrash/Death Metal group HellArise, from 2009 to 2011, playing bass and doing some backing vocals, as well as playing bass live for a comedy Heavy Metal band known as Detonator e as Musas do Metal (which translates as “Detonator and the Muses of Metal”), in 2012. She recorded two demos in her pre-Nervosa era with those bands, one being a three-track demo with Hellgard titled Rise of a Kingdom, in 2009, and a four-track demo with HellArise named Human Disgrace, in 2010, with the title-track being re-recorded and re-released in 2016 already without Fernanda on bass. Apart from Hellgard, HellArise and obviously Nervosa, Fernanda was a guest musician for two distinct metal bands from Brazil in the past few years, Post-Black/Doom Metal act Fanttasma and Thrash Metal titans Torture Squad, and in both cases she acted as a guest vocalist, leaving her menacing bass guitar “dormant”, for lack of a better word. You can enjoy her potent vocals in the songs Metropolis and Life Is War, from Fanttasma’s 2013 album Another Sleepless Night, as well as in their 2014 single Voodoo, and in Torture Squad’s 2013 release Esquadrão de Tortura (throughout the entire album) and in their cover version for Coroner’s Divine Step, released as a bonus track for their 2017 opus Far Beyond Existence. And last but not least, she’s also featured in the song Carcaça de Outro Alguém, together with a band called Fire Strike, as part of a tribute album to the cult Brazilian Horror Punk band Zumbis do Espaço; in a partnership with Brazilian guitarist and producer Denis Di Lallo in a song called Struggle to Survive; and in countless live performances with distinct bands and musicians, like for example playing Slayer’s all-time classic Black Magic with Brazilian Thrash/Death Metal band Desaster.

It’s finally time to talk a little about her career with Nervosa, one of the most promising bands not only in Brazilian metal but in the entire world of Thrash and Death Metal. After quitting her previous bands, our raven-haired growler was already searching for an all-female thrash act when she met guitarist Prika Amaral, who already had Nervosa as a project and was in pursuit of a bassist and singer to bring the band into being, which ended up happening in 2010. And Nervosa have been on a roll since their inception, releasing their debut EP titled Time of Death, in 2012, followed by the full-length albums Victim of Yourself, in 2014, and more recently the underground masterpiece Agony, one of the top 10 metal albums of 2016 from our list. From all those three flammable releases by Nervosa, you can slam into the circle pit together with Fernanda and the girls to the songs Masked Betrayer, Death, Hostages and Guerra Santa (with a nice explanation of what this song is all about by Fernanda herself). As a matter of fact, in one of her interviews, our ass-kicking bassist explained in more details the concept behind Guerra Santa, which is Portuguese for “holy war”. According to Fernanda, this song “talks about all the intolerance that goes on when the subject is religion. Although this is not like a Black Metal song talking against God, Jesus or any religion because I totally respect people’s beliefs. So, this song is not against religion but against the way religion can be harmful sometimes; I mean, religions should be preaching about love, respect, being kind to the next of kin, doing good stuff but sometimes they preach about intolerance against like sexual orientation, races, other cultures – destroying temples of other religions – so what kind of good they bring?”

When asked about the fast and growing success of a relatively young band like Nervosa, Fernanda mentioned that metal is always renewing itself, and everything that’s new in metal, such as three girls playing furious and aggressive Thrash Metal like Nervosa, ends up catching a lot of attention from metalheads all over the world. In addition, she believes that, as part of the process, in some years that’s going to become more natural with more and more girls getting involved with metal. In my humble opinion, I strongly believe their music is what’s really driving their success in the heavy music scene, especially when Nervosa are performing live, and you can get a very good taste of their crushing thrash live in several videos on YouTube, such as the songs Time of Death at Estúdio Showlivre in 2012 in Brazil; Justice Be Done at Seis Tercios Sesiones in Colombia in 2014; Masked Betrayer, Victim of Yourself and Nasty Injury at Ao Vivo no Casarão in Brazil in 2013; and in distinct full live performances like their 2016 concerts in Bulgaria and Serbia, and in special their demolishing concert at Rock Al Parque in 2017, arguably the largest free rock festival not only in Colombia but in the entire continent. And Fernanda loves that life on the road and being on stage, having already visited a lot of different countries and cities, despite the fact she never has enough time to walk around and get to know more about the place she’s playing that night nor about its culture or people.

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As expected, Fernanda has already been asked numerous times how it feels to be an all-female band and about the growing importance of women in metal music. She said that, at the end of the day, we’re all metalheads nurturing the same passion and admiration for Heavy Metal. She complemented by saying she doesn’t really care about being gendered, because in her opinion being called an all-female Thrash Metal band is just a way to describe a specific genre, like Folk Metal, Black Metal, and so on, given the fact that there aren’t many known bands like Nervosa in the market, and although it was a little difficult in the beginning because they’re playing an extreme style dominated by men in a sexist country like Brazil, people are changing their view of women in metal, supporting them, respecting them and encouraging other women to play heavy music. Moreover, she said there’s still a long way to go regarding this matter because there are many conservative metalheads that do not fully accept girls playing heavy music yet, but that’s something metal as a subversive kind of music can certainly change, with fans of heavy music being in their majority very open-minded, intelligent and cultural people. In addition to that, Fernanda said she has always felt like playing only with girls, as she has always dreamed about that and has always been inspired by girls in metal. All her previous bands were all-female groups, and she knew that it was something new that would help her and her bands stand out in metal.

Another interesting topic discussed by our charming growler in some of her interviews is the usage of the Portuguese language in her lyrics, something you can easily find in other heavy music styles like Punk Rock and Hardcore, with amazing bands like the unparalleled Ratos de Porão applying the Portuguese language to their music almost to perfection, but that’s not very common in Thrash, Death and Black Metal. Although Nervosa have two songs in Brazilian Portuguese, those being Urânio em Nós (from Victim of Yourself) and Guerra Santa (from Agony), she said she has always listened to metal in English despite the fact she was born and lives in Brazil, obviously due to the fact most major metal bands sing in English, and that writing lyrics in English is much more natural and easier for her than in Portuguese. And besides, she believes that the English language helps her spread her opinion and ideas much better than Portuguese to a wider audience worldwide (despite the fact that nowadays it’s quite easy to translate anything in any language), making people think, debate, agree or disagree about the topics and subjects contained in her lyrics.

If there’s one thing you can definitely spend hours watching on YouTube, those are several interviews Fernanda gave in both English and Portuguese to the most diverse channels, shows and websites, and in all of them you’ll be able to notice how fun and honest she is not only as a musician but also as a regular human being. I’ve selected a few of those videos for you, including an interview she gave during Nervosa’s performance at Obscene Extreme festival in the Czech Republic in 2015; her chat with the online show From Hero To Zero in 2016 during Nervosa’s European tour with Destruction, where she talks about how difficult it is to make a living out of metal in Latin America, among other topics; and my favorite (and most distinct) of all, Fernanda, together with João Gordo (the idiosyncratic frontman for Ratos de Porão) and vegan chef Willyan Balbino, preparing a vegan twist to a Brazilian popular food snack named “coxinha”, a savory dough shaped into a drumstick around a creamy chicken salad filling then battered and fried, but in this specific case as Panelaço do João Gordo is a vegan show the coxinha was prepared with jackfruit instead of chicken. They obviously talk about heavy music and other stuff, but the star of the show in the end is the jackfruit coxinha (even for a “meatatarian” like myself, those coxinhas look beyond delicious).

And closing our small tribute to the talented Fernanda, when asked about what her recommendations are for bands that are starting their career in heavy music, she said the best option in the beginning is for the bands to promote their music in their homeland, focusing on what’s around them first before going for bigger markets like the USA and Europe. Nervosa have hundreds of thousands of Facebook and Instagram likes, but most of them come from their fanbase in Brazil and the rest of South America. She strongly believes it’s essential to have a huge support from where you come from, with the only issue in their own case being the fact that it’s really hard to make heavy music in Brazil due to the lack of money, opportunities and support from the media. However, as an obstinate metalhead that she is, she believes in the power and unity of metal fans in Latin America, who are always buying albums, merchandise and attending concerts with more intensity than in other parts of the world, being proud of the scene and proudly carrying the flag of Brazilian metal anywhere she goes with Nervosa. And that, my friends, is how you join professionalism and passion in the best possible way.

Fernanda Lira’s Official Facebook page
Fernanda Lira’s Official Facebook fan page
Fernanda Lira’s Official Instagram
Nervosa’s Official Website
Nervosa’s Official Facebook page
Nervosa’s Official Twitter
Nervosa’s Official YouTube channel
Nervosa’s Official Instagram

“All of my best stories and memories are because of metal. I was born and raised in metal. So, all my boyfriends, all my friends, and experiences are related to metal. That’s why I’m so intense on the stage, I feel like I’m living the dream.” – Fernanda Lira

The Year In Review – Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2017

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“We sort of find that music tames the beast, you know.” – Malcom Young

It’s that wonderful time of the year again, and I’m obviously not talking about Christmas and the holiday season. In a year where we lost so many talented and important musicians in rock and heavy music for various reasons, including Malcolm Young (AC/DC), Chris Cornell (Soundgarden), Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Trish Doan (Kittie), Martin Eric Ain (Celtic Frost), Warrel Dane (Nevermore, Sanctuary), John Wetton (Uriah Heep), David Zablidowsky (Adrenaline Mob, Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Chuck Mosley (Faith No More) and Cherry Taketani (Okotô, Hellsakura, NervoChaos), among several others, not to mention the end of the unmatched Black Sabbath, who we were able to witness live one last time during their farewell tour The End, only the freshness and energy flowing from brand new metal music can give us hope, not allowing Heavy Metal and Rock N’ Roll to die as many like to prophesy every single year.

Having said that, it’s time to blow our goddamn speakers with The Headbanging Moose’s Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2017, excluding EP’s, best of’s and live albums, taming the beast inside us all as wisely said by AC/DC’s heart and soul Malcolm Young (R.I.P.). And as 2017 was the year of bands that cannot be considered dinosaurs in metal (or at least not yet), such as Trivium and Mastodon, that certainly points to a bright future ahead for Heavy Metal with their recent releases because, as you know, we won’t have behemoths like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Metallica kicking ass on stage forever. By the way, this was definitely a fantastic year for Mastodon, who not only released one of the best albums of 2017, the excellent Emperor of Sand, but they also had some extra energy to burn with the classy EP Cold Dark Place, which by the way is part of our top 10 EP’s of the year (as you’ll see after our top 10/20 list). Alright, without further ado, turn up the volume and enjoy our 2017 list… LET THERE BE ROCK!

1. Trivium – The Sin and the Sentence (REVIEW)
A superb album full of fast and intricate riffs, poetic lyrics, a sensational new drummer and, above all, the return of Matt’s trademark screams.
Best song of the album: Betrayer

2. Kreator – Gods Of Violence (REVIEW)
We shall praise the best Teutonic Thrash Metal institution of all time, as the gods of violence come alive.
Best song of the album: Totalitarian Terror

3. Blaze Bayley – Endure And Survive (REVIEW)
The indomitable Blaze Bayley returns with the second installment of Infinite Entanglement, his most ambitious project to date.
Best song of the album: Blood

4. Mastodon – Emperor of Sand (REVIEW)
Follow the inspirational story of a desert wanderer who has been handed a death sentence in this excellent album of Progressive Metal.
Best song of the album: Word to the Wise

5. Accept – The Rise of Chaos (REVIEW)
Let total chaos and destruction rise to the sound of the brand new album by the unstoppable Teutonic masters of Heavy Metal.
Best song of the album: Analog Man

6. Moonspell – 1755 (REVIEW)
An orchestral and emotional concept album that will take you to the year when a giant earthquake destroyed the city of Lisbon.
Best song of the album: Todos Os Santos

7. Striker – Striker (REVIEW)
Canadian Heavy Metal has never been more vibrant and rapturous than this.
Best song of the album: Born To Lose

8. Divine Element – Thaurachs Of Borsu (REVIEW)
Witness the passage of a soldier through various levels of consciousness about the reality of war and human society.
Best song of the album: Thaurachs Of Borsu

9. Torture Squad – Far Beyond Existence (REVIEW)
Don’t cross the path of one of the most respectful bands from the Brazilian Thrash and Death Metal scene.
Best song of the album: Blood Sacrifice

10. Solitary – The Diseased Heart of Society (REVIEW)
Four veteran thrash metallers canalizing all the hatred, degradation and perversions of our modern-day society into their music.
Best song of the album: Architects of Shame

And here we have the runner-ups, completing the top 20 for the year:

11. Karkaos – Children Of The Void (REVIEW)
12. Prometheus – Consumed In Flames (REVIEW)
13. Battle Beast – Bringer Of Pain (REVIEW)
14. Terrifier – Weapons of Thrash Destruction (REVIEW)
15. Body Count – Bloodlust (REVIEW)
16. Dzö-nga – The Sachem’s Tales (REVIEW)
17. Cradle of Filth – Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness of Decay (REVIEW)
18. Cannibal Corpse – Red Before Black (REVIEW)
19. Infernäl Mäjesty – No God (REVIEW)
20. Katharos XIII – Negativity (REVIEW)

As aforementioned, we also have for you this year our Top 10 EP’s of 2017, ranging from the most rebellious form of Deathcore to the most melodic type of Symphonic Metal, from visceral Doom Metal to demonic Black Metal, and so on. In addition, those bands hail from all four corner of the earth, proving once again that it doesn’t matter where you go you’ll always be able to find first-class metal music, including all of its genres and subgenres, to please your avid metallic ears.

1. Primal Age – A Silent Wound (REVIEW)
2. Sinners Moon – Far Beyond The Stars (REVIEW)
3. Aversio Humanitatis – Longing for the Untold (REVIEW)
4. Loathfinder – The Great Tired Ones (REVIEW)
5. Ljosazabojstwa – Sychodžańnie (REVIEW)
6. Lorn – Arrayed Claws (REVIEW)
7. Jupiter Hollow – Odyssey (REVIEW)
8. Dö – Astral: Death/Birth (REVIEW)
9. Mastodon – Cold Dark Place (REVIEW)
10. Afire – Afire (REVIEW)

Do you agree with our list? What are your top 10 albums of 2017? If you want to check another awesome list, I highly recommend Antichrst Magazine’s Top 10 Albums of 2017 (Editorial Staff), a great online publication that we at The Headbanging Moose also contribute to on a regular basis. Also, don’t forget to tune in to Timão Metal every Tuesday on Rádio Coringão for a blazing fusion of metal and soccer, and to The Headbanging Moose Show every Thursday on Midnight Madness Metal e-Radio for the best of underground metal from all over the world!

Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! See you in 2018!

Actually, before all is said and done, here’s for you the 2017 Christmas single from Norwegian Melodic Power Metal project Aldaria called When The Time Has Come, featuring several renowned guest musicians such as Ralf Scheepers (Primal Fear), Yannis Papadopoulos (Beast In Black),  Lars Rettkowitz (Freedom Call) and Morten Gade Sørensen (Pyramaze), among others, with 100% of all income of this single being donated to Cancer Research. “This is a very important cause for me, as I lost my mother to this horrible disease in 2010. The single will be available across all streaming and digital platforms, and on Aldaria’s official webstore, where you will get a special edition with a lossless audio file, instrumental, high resolution cover art, and lyrics”, commented guitarist Frode Hovd, the mastermind behind Aldaria. Let’s all support such important cause!

Album Review – Torture Squad / Far Beyond Existence (2017)

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Don’t cross the path of one of the most respectful bands from the Brazilian Thrash and Death Metal scene, or they will mercilessly crush you with the pulverizing music from their sensational new album.

If there’s a band that beautifully epitomizes what old school underground Thrash and Death Metal are all about, that band has to be the ruthless Brazilian four-piece outfit Torture Squad who, since their inception in the distant year of 1990 in the city of São Paulo, a metropolis with almost 20 million people located in the southeast region of Brazil, has been fighting for heavy music and remained loyal to their foundations, even with all the adversities in a country where metal is far from being a popular genre. Carrying a powerful name inspired by the song “Death Squad”, by American thrash metallers Sacred Reich, and having already released seven studio albums, two live albums and three EP’s, it’s time for Torture Squad to attack humanity once again with another sensational blast of traditional extreme music, titled Far Beyond Existence, the eight full-length release in their solid and exciting career.

Featuring a somber and ominous artwork by Brazilian artist Rafael Tavarez (who has already provided his brilliant art to several other bands all over the world such as Dark Ministry, Vulture and Moonkult), Far Beyond Existence is the first full-length opus by Torture Squad to feature the she-wolf Mayara “Undead” Puertas as their lead singer, as well as Rene Simionato on guitars. As a matter of fact, although the talented Mayara and Rene already released last year an EP with Torture Squad, the excellent Return of Evil, it’s now with the band’s new full-bodied installment that they have all the room needed to showcase their refined abilities as musicians and their utmost passion for all things extreme. And they more than succeed in their mission as you’ll see when you start listening to this incendiary album of Brazilian Extreme Metal.

In the fantastic opening track Don’t Cross My Path, Rene presents his welcome card in the form of cutting, flammable riffs, while the band’s wardogs Amílcar on drums and Castor on bass are simply thunderous with their respective instruments. And what to say about Mayara? She’s a true unstoppable she-demon, kicking some serious ass with both her deeper guttural and her more strident screams. As the name of the song says, don’t dare to cross her path under any circumstances, unless that’s what you really want deep down inside, right? Continuing with their sonic destruction, sirens warn the listener a tempest of old school Thrash and Death Metal is about to come in No Fate, another boisterous creation by this Brazilian quartet that exhales heaviness and aggression, with Amílcar giving a lesson in drumming by being rhythmic, violent and groovy at the same time. And connecting instantly with where the previous song ended, Blood Sacrifice presents a serene and somewhat esoteric intro, suddenly exploding into belligerent Thrash Metal. Amílcar once again demolishes his drums in a fantastic way, while Mayara keeps barking, gnarling and screaming like a beast, resulting in one of my favorite songs of the album by far; followed by Steady Hands, a mid-tempo tune perfect for some intense headbanging intercalated with some faster and more furious parts, with Rene once again blasting a metallic feast of heavy and raw riffs, not to mention the great job done by Castor with his demonic bass punches enhancing the song’s heaviness to the limit.

The also superb Hate, featuring British vocalist Dave Ingram (Benediction, Bolt Thrower, Just Before Dawn) on guest vocals, is more ferocious than most of the previous songs, where the pounding drums by Amílcar are in perfect sync with Castor’s bass lines and Mayara’s grunts, and with the song’s ending being a thing of beauty tailored for smashing your skull into the circle pit. In Hero for the Ages, slashing riffs and accelerated beats generate a warlike atmosphere perfect for Mayara to attack us with her devilish guttural vocals. Furthermore, it’s truly impressive how all songs sound extremely imposing and heavy, and of course this one couldn’t be an exception to that, with Castor hitting us hard in the last part of the song with his bass guitar. The title-track Far Beyond Existence is a lesson in traditional Thrash Metal, sounding simply excellent for the band’s live concerts, showcasing a neck-breaking, galloping pace that will certainly stimulate the spawn of some intense mosh pits, all boosted by the amazing guitar solo by Rene amidst all the rumbling sounds emanating from bass and drums. And leaning towards a more obscure form of Death Metal, mainly due to the deep and enraged gnarls by Mayara and the old school riffs by Rene, Cursed by Disease keeps the album’s momentum going, with the special narration by Brazilian drummer Edu Lane (Nervochaos) and its old school lyrics (“A rotting corpse remains preserved / Receptacle of the spirit of a king / Sarcophagus was sealed with all his treasure / And on the walls the paintings bore a curse / Death will attack / With its trident / for those who disturb / The pharaoh”) spicing up the final result.

You Must Proclaim, featuring Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Luiz Louzada (Chemical Disaster, Predatory, Vulcano) as a guest vocalist (making a demonic duo with Mayara on vocals), begins with Castor punching his bass mercilessly, emanating a violent and metallic sound that grows in intensity together with all other instruments until it becomes a thrilling Thrash Metal onrush; whereas Just Got Paid,  their pulverizing version for a ZZ Top classic (which original version can be enjoyed HERE), sounds as groovy and hellish as it can be, led by the harsh vocals by guest vocalist Alex Camargo (Krisiun) and the exciting riffage by Rene. Moreover, Castor’s bass sounds once again insanely deafening, which obviously translates into sheer awesomeness. Before all is said and done, Castor and his potent bass kick off the instrumental extravaganza titled Torture in Progress, featuring Brazilian keyboardist Marcelo Schevano, with those bass wallops being the main ingredient during the song’s first part, always accompanied by Amílcar’s intricate beats. In addition, the Deep Purple-inspired keys by Marcelo bring a fresh taste to the overall musicality, culminating in almost 10 minutes of top-notch Brazilian metal. Then closing the album we have Unknown Abyss, a cinematic intro (or outro, depending on how you listen to it, as I’m not really sure why it was added as the last track of the digital version of the album) where Mayara “presents” herself to the fans of the band like a demonic entity rising from the underworld. Needless to say, it will sound fantastic as the intro to their live performances.

In a nutshell, when Mayara had the arduous mission a couple of years ago to replace Torture Squad’s longtime iconic vocalist Vitor Rodrigues, she already proved the world she was the right choice for the band, but in Far Beyond Existence her performance reached such a stunning level she has emphatically carved her name as the band’s undisputed voice (hopefully) for many years to come. If you want to know more about Torture Squad, simply go to their Facebook page for news and tour dates (if you’re in Brazil, don’t miss their Far Beyond Existence Tour 2017, which is just about to start on August 17), and to Spotify to listen to Far Beyond Existence in its entirety. You can also buy the album through the Secret Service Records’ webstore, on iTunes or on Amazon, and show all your support to high-end underground metal from Brazil, more specifically to one of the most respectful, hard-working and thrilling bands in the history of Brazilian heavy music.

Best moments of the album: Don’t Cross My Path, Blood Sacrifice, Hate and Far Beyond Existence.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2017 Secret Service Records

Track listing
1. Don’t Cross My Path 5:48
2. No Fate 6:35
3. Blood Sacrifice 7:38
4. Steady Hands 5:23
5. Hate (feat. Dave Ingram) 4:11
6. Hero for the Ages 5:42
7. Far Beyond Existence 6:44
8. Cursed by Disease (feat. Edu Lane) 5:02
9. You Must Proclaim (feat. Luiz Louzada) 5:06
10. Just Got Paid (ZZ Top cover) (feat. Alex Camargo) 4:11
11. Torture in Progress (Instrumental) (feat. Marcelo Schevano) 9:37
12. Unknown Abyss (Intro) 3:01

Band members
Mayara “Undead” Puertas – vocals
Rene Simionato – guitars
Castor – bass, backing vocals
Amílcar Christófaro – drums

Guest musicians
Dave Ingram – additional vocals on “Hate”
Edu Lane – narration on “Cursed by Desease”
Luiz Louzada – additional vocals on “You Must Proclaim”
Alex Camargo – vocals on “Just got Paid”
Marcelo Schevano – Hammond organ on “Torture in Progress”

Metal Chick of the Month – Mayara “Undead” Puertas

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Sanity… What about Insanity…

Can you hear those demonic gnarls coming from Brazil, sounding like the putrid screams of an undead woman rising from her grave? That’s the powerful and mesmerizing guttural voice by our metallic girl this month, the talented Brazilian growler Mayara “Undead” Puertas, born Mayara Puertas and also known as May “Undead” Puertas or even May Undead, frontwoman of the iconic old school Brazilian Thrash/Death Metal band Torture Squad, and a woman that loves heavy music from the bottom of her blackened heart above all things. If this is the first time you’re getting to know the work by Mayara, you better be ready as the “Undead” is more than ready to kick your ass with her devilish growls and fiery onstage attitude (and I’m sure you’ll get addicted to the music by Torture Squad after that).

Born on March 16, 1993 in a region known as ABC Paulista, an industrial region located in the Greater São Paulo, Brazil, Mayara Puertas has always been connected to some sort of musical art since she was little, singing popular songs and playing the piano, guitar and electric guitar, always encouraged by her family and by studying old music books owned by her father, covering songs from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Secos e Molhados (an innovative Brazilian band formed in the beginning of the 70’s) and Kansas, for example. She never took any formal lessons to learn how to sing and to play those instruments, as she preferred learning everything by herself as a good self-taught musician that she is, adding her passion for music and her personal touch to shape her own style.

When she was around 12 or 13 years old, she already nurtured a strong interest for rock music, until a good friend of hers introduced her to Heavy Metal, bringing all his albums to her home where she could make copies of all of them. She instantly fell in love for bands like Iron Maiden, Manowar, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Hammerfall and Brazilian Celtic Metal band Tuatha de Danann, which as you can see have little to do with her singing style. Her curiosity and connection to heavy music only grew stronger and stronger in the coming years when she began searching for different bands and genres, including more brutal types of metal, finally finding in Thrash and Death Metal her true passion. Mayara then started to dedicate herself to learn more aggressive vocal techniques inspired by Extreme Metal titans such as Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy and Overkill, with some of her biggest influences being David Vincent (Morbid Angel), George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher (Cannibal Corpse), Rachel Heyzer (Infinited Hate, Occult, Sinister), Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain), Sabina Classen (Holy Moses) and Bobby “Blitz” Ellsworth (Overkill), a distinct selection of unique voices.

It was in 2013 when Mayara joined her first official band, Brazilian Death Metal act Necromesis, not only as a singer but by also recording some piano and acoustic guitars. As the screaming frontwoman of Necromesis, the “Undead” recorded the EP Echoes of a Memory in 2014 (which you can listen to in its entirety HERE) and the full-length album The Poet’s Paradox in 2015. You can enjoy Mayara’s beastly growling with Necromesis penetrating your ears in crushing songs such as Indifferent Echoes of Sensitivity and Desocial Inclusion, as well as this live version of the song Unlives as Undeads at a special event called I Domingo Metal BR in 2014 in São Paulo, Brazil. Her time with Necromesis also allowed her to tour several Brazilian cities, including a tour with American bands Master and Vital Remains, and being named one of the greatest Extreme Metal singers of the year of 2014.

In October 2015, after talking with Fernanda Lira (lead singer and bassist of the badass Brazilian Thrash Metal power trio Nervosa), Mayara was told she had been referred to be the vocalist of an important Brazilian Death Metal band, but she didn’t know exactly which one then. After a few weeks, she was contacted by Amílcar Christófaro, longtime drummer of Torture Squad, to officially join the band. That was a big surprise for Mayara, as she had always admired the work by those guys, following their career and attending their live concerts, and she knew it was going to be a great honor and an even greater responsibility to replace the iconic Vitor Rodrigues on vocals, who left the band in April 2012 to pursue new musical experiences. The other band members provided her all the necessary support for her to thrive as their new singer, making her confident enough to accept the challenge and add her touch of aggressiveness, electricity and passion to their always high-octane music, showing how professional and dedicated Torture Squad are, and how loyal they’ve always been to heavy music. Of course it wasn’t easy for her to adapt to her new life at first, as she had to rehearse with the band almost everyday, she had to quit her job and move to a new city, but all that extra effort was worth it thanks to the amazing receptivity she always gets from the diehard fans of the band, enjoying her live performances of old school Torture Squad songs as well as their new tunes already with her on vocals.

Mayara recorded her first official release with torture Squad in 2016, the EP titled Return of Evil, comprised of four unrelenting, original tracks (Return of Evil, Swallow Your Reality, Dreadful Lies and Iron Squad). If you want to know more about how the first Torture Squad album with Mayara on vocals came to life, I highly recommend you watch the online documentary named Behind the Evil, filmed in December 2015 during the recordings of Return of Evil at Na Cena Studios. Another amazing video online showcasing all the vocal potency by Mayara with the band, singing some of the band’s classics like Pull The Trigger and Mad Illusions, as well as an interview piece, can be seen HERE. After watching such powerful performance by Mayara, you’ll understand why her nickname is “Undead”, given to her by Amilcar during their first rehearsals due to the fact her growls sounded like the screams of an undead woman rising from her grave. She even said that became her “alter ego”, which she lets dominate her body and soul when she’s on stage performing.

In regards to touring with Torture Squad, a band that’s always doing extensive tours all over Brazil and also in Europe, Mayara said that when you’re on the road you have to get used to the fact that your house will be a van. There’s very little time to sleep, eat and take care of yourself, which means the band as a whole has to learn how to live in a harmonious way to make things work during the tours. She also said that her biggest concern is with her voice as there are many shows to do each tour, and she takes care of it by drinking lots of water and having fun with moderation. Also, our screaming metaller said that, despite the lack of time, she enjoys knowing a little more about the places where she plays with the band, most of which she would never have been able to visit if she wasn’t with torture Squad. Mayara is also the youngest member of the band; for instance, she wasn’t even born when the band started, but that doesn’t mean the difference in age is a barrier to her relationship with the other members of the band. She said their passion for metal unites them, helping them become a big metallic family, as well as the fact that she’s using her time with them to learn as much as possible from their expertise in the world of heavy music.

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If you prefer some action instead of all these never-ending words, you can find online a lot of high-quality footage of Mayara growling like a rabid beast as the frontwoman of Torture Squad, as you can see in the songs Inner Strength, and Black Sabbath’s classic Symptom of the Universe (with changed instruments); this series of videos recorded at the traditional Clash Club in São Paulo, Brazil, on February 27, 2016, where the band played, among others, the songs Living for the Kill/ Chaos Corporation, The Unholy Spell, and Horror and Torture/Pandemonium; or this amazingly done footage of Torture Squad kicking ass at De Verlichte Geest, in Roeselare, Belgium. You can also enjoy some online interviews with Mayara (if, of course, you understand Portuguese), as for example when they played at Tocandira Ritual Fest II in Macapá, a province located in the North of Brazil, in 2016; and her chat with the YouTube channel For headS for their Metal Live Drops programme, where she talks a little about how she became the lead singer for Torture Squad.

There’s already a brand new song online with Mayara on vocals, which is actually Torture Squad’s cover version of Motörhead’s high-octane classic Overkill that will be feature on a Brazilian tribute named “Going To Brazil… The Brazilian Tribute To Motörhead”, featuring several renowned Brazilian bands such as Nervochaos, Voodoopriest, Genocídio, Ratos de Porão, Claustrofobia and Hatefulmurder, among others, to be released later this year by British label Secret Service Records. And the wait for more Torture Squad with Mayara on vocals won’t be long, as the band has already announced they’ll release in July this year their eight studio album, titled Far Beyond Existence, containing ten ruthless songs with the “Undead” gnarling manically as their frontwoman. As the band has been updating their official Facebook page with videos and other details about the recordings of the new album, I highly recommend you like and follow them HERE to avoid missing anything.

As any modern musician, Mayara already lent her potent voice to some interesting bands and projects away from the Torture Squad world. For instance, she recorded additional vocals for the 2015 album Afterlife in Darkness, by Brazilian Death Metal band Depressed, and guest vocals for the song Time Enough at Last from the 2017 album Red Eyes, by Brazilian Thrash/Death Metal band Hatefulmurder. In addition to that, Mayara also recorded in 2015 a cover version of Bathory’s Man of Iron with Bathory Brazilian Tribute, and began working with bassist Patricia Schlithler (Hellarise, Harppia) in an Extreme Metal project named Gorgona (which I couldn’t find any additional details about online).

Despite the fact that our society is still extremely sexist, when asked about the increasing influence of women in heavy music Mayara said that although she has already experienced a few awkward situations in her life she still believes Heavy Metal and Rock N’ Roll are the two types of music that foster creativity and freedom of speech, therefore providing more room for women to grow and to be more and more respected by everyone. She mentioned she always receives a lot of positive feedback from both men and women, even inspiring fathers to take their daughters to Torture Squad concerts to show them they can be whatever they want in life, which is obviously a great thing not only for Mayara but for heavy music in general.

She was also asked about the feeling of being on stage with the band, singing in front of hundreds or thousands of crazy fans everywhere they go, and if there’s a big difference between fans in Brazil and in Europe. Mayara said the main difference is that, in Europe, you can see several distinct tribes mixed in the crowd, such as diehard fans of Punk Rock and Death Metal together, which in the end was excellent for her as she could connect to people with complete different tastes and opinions than hers, and that she wished that could also be a reality in Brazil, where the heavy music tribes are a lot more distant from each other. However, in terms of receptivity and electricity, she said both Brazilian and European headbangers are absolutely amazing and have a very good time during their shows.

Mayara is not only an extremely talented growler, but she’s also an entrepreneur, being the owner of an online store named Bloodline, specialized in custom clothing and accessories. She said she opened the store during a very difficult time of her life, when she was unemployed and needed to find an alternative source of income. If you want to know more about Bloodline, check their official website or Facebook page and, who knows, you might find something fancy that suits your style. In addition, she also works as a costume consultant for a company called Loud Factory, an audio and video producer focused on Heavy Metal and Rock N’ Roll. And that’s all about the talented Mayara, a woman that never gets tired of her “eat, sleep, scream like a beast, repeat” routine.

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