Abstract: A new matrix perturbation analysis method is presented for efficient approximate solution of the complex modal quadratic generalized eigenvalue problem of viscously damped linear vibration systems. First, the damping matrix is decomposed into the sum of a proportional- and a nonproportional-damping parts, and the solutions of the real modal eigenproblem with the proportional dampings are determined, which are a set of initial approximate solutions of the complex modal eigenproblem. Second, by taking the nonproportional-damping part as a small modification to the proportional one and using the matrix perturbation analysis method, a set of approximate solutions of the complex modal eigenvalue problem can be obtained analytically. The result is quite simple. The new method is applicable to the systems with viscous dampings-which do not deviate far away from the proportional-damping case. It is particularly important that the solution technique be also effective to the systems with heavy, but not over, dampings. The solution formulas of complex modal eigenvlaues and eigenvectors are derived up to second-order perturbation terms. The effectiveness of the perturbation algorithm is illustrated by an exemplar numerical problem with heavy dampings. In addition, the practicability of approximately estimating the complex modal eigenvalues, under the proportional-damping hypothesis, of damped vibration systems is discussed by several numerical examples.