Nervecell emerged early in the year 2000 in the
commercial city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Surrounded by a music
scene that is dominated completely by the mainstream musical hype,
Nervecell independently worked their way up and have undoubtedly proven
to be the most potential metal outfit in the Middle East to date, delivering
a powerful unique mixture of death metal & thrash metal.
After a series of lineup changes within the band it was
only until 2003 that Nervecell decided to record the first demo
entitled “Vastlands of Abomination”. Following the success of the
demo the band hit the studio to record their debut EP “Human Chaos”
in the summer of 2004. This release grabbed a lot of attention from both the
underground local scene and around the globe. Being aired on local station
Dubai Radio One’s weekly metal show Heavy Metal Thunder and
various international radio stations as UK’s Total Rock and Germany’s
The Metal Observer Radio, ranking their Top 20 charts. “Human
Chaos” also received many positive reviews from various webzines &
magazines in Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Morocco, USA, Canada and
Britain’s metal bible Metal Hammer. The success of “Human Chaos”
led Nervecell the opportunity to perform at the annual Dubai
Desert Rock Festival in 2005 opening for legendary SEPULTURA and
the mighty MACHINE HEAD. In 2006, London based drummer Gavin Ward
(ex-POWER QUEST) joined Nervecell and toured with the band for
a good year and a half.
In 2007
Nervecell headlined the
Egypt Metal
Festival 2007, in Cairo, Egypt and soon after embarked on a full
headlining
“Road Rage” tour in March/April 2007 in Australia
culminating with the headline spot in
Metalstock Festival 2007,
Australia's only 3 day metal festival. After the successful Australian
headlining tour, the band was then asked to play
Metalcamp Festival 2007
in Tolmin, Slovenia alongside
MOTÖRHEAD,
SEPULTURA,
KREATOR,
IMMORTAL,
BLIND GUARDIAN,
CRADLE OF FILTH and many
others.
Nervecell was exclusively interviewed by
Terrorizer Magazine as part of an article on the Middle Eastern metal
scene and soon after the band was contacted by Canadian journalist/
anthropologist Sam Dunn known for the infamous Metal: A Headbanger’s
Journey documentary. Nervecell was later featured on Sam’s latest
video documentary Global Metal which discusses the impact of metal
music on different cultures.
After a long break of shows in the local circuit it was
only until March 2008 when
Nervecell performed at the
Dubai Desert
Rock Festival 2008 for the second time sharing the stage with
AS I
LAY DYING,
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE,
MACHINE HEAD and many more.
In April 2008
Nervecell released their highly anticipated new album
“Preaching Venom” featuring
PSYCROPTIC's drummer
David
Haley behind the drum kit. The album is mixed by the acclaimed producers
Wojtek and
Slawek Wieslawscy (
VADER,
DECAPITATED,
HATE) at
Hertz Studio in Poland and mastered by the infamous
Alan Douches at
West West Side Music (
SEPULTURA,
SUFFOCATION,
UNEARTH) in New Windsor, New York. The CD artwork
was created by
Dennis Sibeijn (
ABORTED,
ALL SHALL PERISH,
JOB FOR A COWBOY).
“Preaching Venom” proved to be beyond
expectations and received immense feedback and reviews from the industries
well established magazines such as Metal Hammer, Rock Hard &
Aardschock among others. Right after the release of the new album,
the band was selected to open for Polish death metal veterans Vader
in Egypt. In June 2008, they are set to co-headline Morocco’s Casa
Gateways Festival 2008 along with BEHEMOTH, GRAVEWORM, EMETH
and many more.
In 2009 Nervecell kicked off their headlining
Dubai tour “Beyond The Venom” during February/March which included an
appearance at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival 2009 with OPETH,
MOTÖRHEAD, ARCH ENEMY, CHIMAIRA and others. The year
2009 will also mark the band’s return to Europe, already scheduled to
perform at Wacken Open Air (20th Year Anniversary), With Full
Force Festival & Rock AM Ring / Rock IM Park 2009 in Germany and
more to be confirmed, officially marking Nervecell as the only Middle
Eastern based metal band to perform on such large scale European stages.
With the new album “Preaching Venom” out now,
Nervecell have set the standards high and will surely convince the
masses worldwide that metal is alive and well in the Middle East.
