Holy crap, I actually listened to Nevermore today

[Brooks]

What are we but men without eyes?
Swimming through the poison of design...
​

I threw EoR onto my iPod shuffle this morning before work, and after starting the opening track, I turned off the random switch.

What a killer fucking record.

This, I've got to say, is the highlight of Nevermore's career, IMO. It's all there - mind fucking dissonance from JL, existential panic from WD, shit-hot rhythm from those other guys - the album is on fire.

Heroes and rapists they all have nice faces
But who decides, who defines, who draws the lines?
​

As shredding and terrifying the guitar riffs are, I really think Enemies of Reality is Warrel's album. There's an extra dose of reality on this one, especially compared to the fantasy/sci-fi tripe that came out on the next one. EoR is, in a way, a manifesto of the voyager.

The thing I always loved about WD's lyrics was the firey passion and venom spit at the corruption of the political infrustrucure, the absurdity of unjust religious indoctrination and lies, the experiental nature of subjective reality (usually through chemical goggles), and the panic of the crushing existential dread we all conciously ignore, but unconciously feel. It's all here on EoR.

Packaged and processed the masses are force fed
The standards they judge us on swallow the rot we shed
​

A lot of people give Kelly Gray's production a lot of shit. Well, I won't entirely defend it, but I will say that it gets a bad rap. The SONICS are crap, yes, but not entirely because it wasn't up to the standard set by the brilliant DHIADW (still Andy Sneap's biggest triumph, imo).

My problem with the sound is it's mediocrity. It's not good enough to be good, but it's not bad enough to be good either. If they went raw and lo-fi, it would have been killer. Listen to those early Death and Morbid Angel records. Listen to the new Ufomammut and ISIS records. Metal doesn't need to be polished to a shimmer to be heavy; a good, natural, lower-fi sound can be just as, if not more, caustic and intense.

The original EoR mix isn't either. So I prefer the one with the Sneap Sauce.

In this wasted miracle, the outcome so terminal
Why do we waste time on hope?
​

But what I do like about the original production isn't the 'sound', but the actual 'production'. Century Media was fucking Nevermore with this one, as the band expressed interest in potentially parting ways after the record was made. CM didn't like this public display of disloyalty, and so, retarded the budget, and forced the band to record it while still working their day-jobs at home.

However miserable it was to record, it manifested in a fire that was clearly audible, even over Gray's muck. EoR has so much intensity, lyrically, musically, and performance wise, that it's urgency just plows through the speakers. Creatively, the production is top notch, and far more intense than the uninspired Godless Endeavor that was to follow.

It goes without saying that the Gray skies of Seattle are more conducive to intense heavy metal music than the beautiful English countryside.

The waves bled as the storm changed
In the cold embrace of the unknown
Not even blood could bring us warmth
​

I can't wait for the new record.


tl;dr Nevermore is cool

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

tl, did read anyway

 

[rebirth]

it's not bang your head into the wall stuff - even over Gray's muck

 

[Lord Foul]

Who Decides is probably my favorite NM track.

 

[Brooks]

The first time I heard Who Decides, I nearly pooped my pants.


Later, out of boredom, some friends and I got high and went to Wal Mart, really late at night.

'Heroes and rapists / they all have nice faces' was running through my head as I walked up and down the aisles, looking at all the OTHER people who were at Wal Mart that late at night.


Then I actually did poop my pants.

 

[Craysh3]

That was a very heroic act going in their and raping your pants with your poop in the wal mart like that.

 

[Shpongled]

Brooks is my hero.

My hero is a rapist.

A pants rapist.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

It's actually my 2nd least favorite NM album, my first being the self titled. [/Naysayer]

 

[Brooks]

Hah.

The self titled might be my #2, right behind EoR.

 

[[KOTNO]Narrot]

It's actually my 2nd least favorite NM album, my first being the self titled. [/Naysayer]

agreed

 

[Craysh3]

But Nevermore's self titled was so retro kickass! The System's Failing was like Nevermore trying to do Megadeth (and succeeding at it better than Mustaine when Youthanasia came out). Timothy Leary? Hell yes! The Hurting Words? Epic. Garden of Gray? Shit my pants. C'mon, that album was gold just like what's inside the egyptian tombs on the cover...

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

It's my second favorite Nevermore album which is surprising since I hate death metal. Yeah, I said it. EOR is fucking death metal.

 

[Lord Foul]

It's my second favorite Nevermore album which is surprising since I hate death metal. Yeah, I said it. EOR is fucking death metal.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

lol

 

[Det Som Engang Var]

Oh come on. EOR? Amibavalent? So much death metal in that.

If a different band made EOR (minus the ballads) with death growls over it, it would be labeled death metal or death thrash or prog death idfk something with death in it. It's very mechanical sounding also, like tech death.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Disagreed on all counts.

 

[Craysh3]

Second Max's notion there.

 

[Brooks]

It's definitely the heaviest and, I'll repeat the word, urgent release in Nevermore's catalog.

s'Why I like it.

 

[DreamNeonBlack]

Nevermore? New band? Do they sound anything like Iced Earth?

 

[Shpongled]

Oh come on. EOR? Amibavalent? So much death metal in that.

If a different band made EOR (minus the ballads) with death growls over it, it would be labeled death metal or death thrash or prog death idfk something with death in it. It's very mechanical sounding also, like tech death.

But it's not, and that's why it isn't death metal and shouldn't be called death metal.