Alright, in this thread, you write a review of any Nevermore album you choose. It doesn't matter, just pick one and review it, and it doesn't matter if it sucks, as long as it is a review. 
Official Nevermore Reviews Thread
- Thread starter PlatypusJesus
- Start date
Reverand Joint Smoker
too much magic bus
This band has yet to create a bad release. They define metal, yet defy labeling. Call them what you will, power-thrash, progressive. Love them or hate them, youve gotta respect them. Simply put, its the excellent musicianship that makes this band the metal machine they are. Which in part, is what makes this such a tight, focused, cohesive recording. While Warrel Dane himself said prior to recording: Its time for Nevermore to get as vicious as possible, an unexpected outcome has been the result. This is their most accessible, catchy, infinitely memorable recording to date. And the buzz surrounding the band has been ever escalating, to insane proportions. It seems this is the in band to be all over like a cheap T-shirt. While it started with Politics of Ecstasy, and hit a high point with Dead Heart in a Dead World -- Enemies of Reality is the combination of those two releases. Enemies has humongous menacing balls, and is most certainly a high point as to what the band can do.
Warrel Dane has recorded his most restrained, yet uncompromising, vocal delivery to date. Simply outstanding. Highs are not as high, the lows are not as deep. Smooth as silk, highly emotive, genuine, heartfelt, and beautiful. I could argue its his best to date, but I cannot discount the power of Dreaming Neon Black. Jim Sheppard can be heard distinctly -- you finally get to hear all the tricky rumblings hes been doing all these years. As per usual, Vanimal earns his nickname with tight, expressive, open (listen to the center section of Create the Infinite) drumming. He shows incredible balance when adding his tracks, but shows the master he is, particularly on I, Voyager. Loomis is a bit more restrained than on any other release thus far. His leads and rhythm work have such purpose. With authority he lays them down, one after another, but carefully, spaciously. His solos arent because he can, they are because they fit. The same applies for this recording as a whole. Lyrically there is a pervasive theme, woven throughout the whole disc. There are hidden whisperings, only heard with headphones, waiting to be discovered. Thematic ideas of reality, truth, and who the enemies really are, interlaced in all the songs. The puzzle is there for you if you want to delve into it. Truth is always subjective given ones personal experiences, so Ill refrain from going to far into the lyrics (I just did though). A little mystery with your metal if you want it, if not, youve got the rest of the music to enjoy.
Each song stands alone, but they all tie together nicely.
1) Enemies of Reality -- Slow, menacing fade-in starts this bastard child off. Sweet solo, excellent breakdown after that. Catchy chorus, Open wide and eat the worms of the enemy And we all know that worms only eat dead shit. Enunciated as only Warrel Dane does.
2) Ambivalent -- Head swirling guitar intro. Headphones reveal the hidden whisperings, and vocal punctuations that I mentioned. So sinister with the guitar leads that create this spectacular groove lying under the solo. My pick of best song on the album - pure Nevermore magic. And a word about their CD release party. They played a total of 5 cuts from this album live, and this song was my favorite.
3) Never Purify -- Track two merges right into Never Purify with no mercy. Vocal delivery is quite powerful, and restrained for this singer. Loomis creates another one of his free for all solos, while Vans drum fills are outstanding.
4) Tomorrow Turned into Yesterday -- Particularly emotional and reflective song. Smooth vocals. Exquisite slower tempo song from Nevermore - while retaining the power and balls of any of their works.
5) I, Voyager -- Ever had a menace to society type dog put his whole mouth around your head? And bite down hard? Warning and threatening you to get the fuck off his street? I have. And this song is just like that messed up Doberman that tried to palm my head like a basketball! Van is just a psycho freak on this song, and Loomis and Sheppard take turns bashing this song around, morphing it constantly. 6) Create the Infinite -- Another song like Ambivalent that takes a life of its own on at the two minute mark. Hidden whisperings, open drumming, understated rhythm guitar work. Sophisticated.
7) Who Decides -- Extended intro with the guitar slowly fading in. Highly reminiscent of Chances Three to my ears - although the whole band is involved in this one. Delicate and beautiful guitars, vocals, with the punctuation marks put on by the rhythm section.
Your track listing may be reversed like mine. If you care, either of these songs may be out of order, but this is how my disc is:
8) Noumenon -- Psychotically mesmerizing with a powerful moral/societal message. Sitar sounding guitars complement this song in its intro and fade out. Truly a beautiful song.
9) Seed Awakening -- Fast tempo song, and youve probably not heard Nevermore like this before.
There are production/mixing issues with this recording. I cant lie about that. The only way I can describe it is as a shroud, thats muffling it to some extent. There is little clarity. Its very dense, leaving the listener to strain to hear some parts of it. Drums are blunted--for example the bass and cymbals. The vocals arent as clean as they have been on previous recordings. Significant distortion. Guitars may come in to loud at some points, sounding stifled overall. But, the only advice I have if you feel like I did, is to take the disc and put it on every set of headphones you have, and all other stereos that you can get a hold of. Use your EQ, dial it in the way you like it -- you may need to tweak this one to suit your taste. I can tell you the music is there, though. Its a diamond in the rough that you may need to polish up to get the optimal sound out of. I had this one in four different stereos and two sets of headphones, trying to find the sweet spot. I find this to be a solid, strong recording, with excellent as usual, song writing. However, I cant put a higher rating on it, although I really would like to. The two-dimensional flatness squashes the sound.
Music: * * * *
Production/mixing: *
Warrel Dane has recorded his most restrained, yet uncompromising, vocal delivery to date. Simply outstanding. Highs are not as high, the lows are not as deep. Smooth as silk, highly emotive, genuine, heartfelt, and beautiful. I could argue its his best to date, but I cannot discount the power of Dreaming Neon Black. Jim Sheppard can be heard distinctly -- you finally get to hear all the tricky rumblings hes been doing all these years. As per usual, Vanimal earns his nickname with tight, expressive, open (listen to the center section of Create the Infinite) drumming. He shows incredible balance when adding his tracks, but shows the master he is, particularly on I, Voyager. Loomis is a bit more restrained than on any other release thus far. His leads and rhythm work have such purpose. With authority he lays them down, one after another, but carefully, spaciously. His solos arent because he can, they are because they fit. The same applies for this recording as a whole. Lyrically there is a pervasive theme, woven throughout the whole disc. There are hidden whisperings, only heard with headphones, waiting to be discovered. Thematic ideas of reality, truth, and who the enemies really are, interlaced in all the songs. The puzzle is there for you if you want to delve into it. Truth is always subjective given ones personal experiences, so Ill refrain from going to far into the lyrics (I just did though). A little mystery with your metal if you want it, if not, youve got the rest of the music to enjoy.
Each song stands alone, but they all tie together nicely.
1) Enemies of Reality -- Slow, menacing fade-in starts this bastard child off. Sweet solo, excellent breakdown after that. Catchy chorus, Open wide and eat the worms of the enemy And we all know that worms only eat dead shit. Enunciated as only Warrel Dane does.
2) Ambivalent -- Head swirling guitar intro. Headphones reveal the hidden whisperings, and vocal punctuations that I mentioned. So sinister with the guitar leads that create this spectacular groove lying under the solo. My pick of best song on the album - pure Nevermore magic. And a word about their CD release party. They played a total of 5 cuts from this album live, and this song was my favorite.
3) Never Purify -- Track two merges right into Never Purify with no mercy. Vocal delivery is quite powerful, and restrained for this singer. Loomis creates another one of his free for all solos, while Vans drum fills are outstanding.
4) Tomorrow Turned into Yesterday -- Particularly emotional and reflective song. Smooth vocals. Exquisite slower tempo song from Nevermore - while retaining the power and balls of any of their works.
5) I, Voyager -- Ever had a menace to society type dog put his whole mouth around your head? And bite down hard? Warning and threatening you to get the fuck off his street? I have. And this song is just like that messed up Doberman that tried to palm my head like a basketball! Van is just a psycho freak on this song, and Loomis and Sheppard take turns bashing this song around, morphing it constantly. 6) Create the Infinite -- Another song like Ambivalent that takes a life of its own on at the two minute mark. Hidden whisperings, open drumming, understated rhythm guitar work. Sophisticated.
7) Who Decides -- Extended intro with the guitar slowly fading in. Highly reminiscent of Chances Three to my ears - although the whole band is involved in this one. Delicate and beautiful guitars, vocals, with the punctuation marks put on by the rhythm section.
Your track listing may be reversed like mine. If you care, either of these songs may be out of order, but this is how my disc is:
8) Noumenon -- Psychotically mesmerizing with a powerful moral/societal message. Sitar sounding guitars complement this song in its intro and fade out. Truly a beautiful song.
9) Seed Awakening -- Fast tempo song, and youve probably not heard Nevermore like this before.
There are production/mixing issues with this recording. I cant lie about that. The only way I can describe it is as a shroud, thats muffling it to some extent. There is little clarity. Its very dense, leaving the listener to strain to hear some parts of it. Drums are blunted--for example the bass and cymbals. The vocals arent as clean as they have been on previous recordings. Significant distortion. Guitars may come in to loud at some points, sounding stifled overall. But, the only advice I have if you feel like I did, is to take the disc and put it on every set of headphones you have, and all other stereos that you can get a hold of. Use your EQ, dial it in the way you like it -- you may need to tweak this one to suit your taste. I can tell you the music is there, though. Its a diamond in the rough that you may need to polish up to get the optimal sound out of. I had this one in four different stereos and two sets of headphones, trying to find the sweet spot. I find this to be a solid, strong recording, with excellent as usual, song writing. However, I cant put a higher rating on it, although I really would like to. The two-dimensional flatness squashes the sound.
Music: * * * *
Production/mixing: *
WhiteBeastofWotan
Apostitutes!
Lies and Perfidy
Gentleman of the Road
Copying and pasting my review of DHIADW from Encylopaedia Metallum:
Doesn't live up to the previous two, but not bad - 76%
Written by Pyrus on June 2nd, 2003
Well, this is no Dreaming Neon Black, that's for sure; then again, it would be extremely hard for any band to match the levels of mastery on that album. Dead Heart instead goes in a new (dare I say "nu?" Nah...) direction, introducing a seven-string guitar and some more chugging, modern-ish riffs than the power/thrash of the previous effort. However, the ripping thrash of Politics of Ecstacy remains very clearly evident, and come out sounding somewhat like Machine Head before they began to suck (i.e., the first album), only faster.
The album has a fairly unconvincing start, unfortunately, with "Narcosynthesis" kicking things off in undistinguished fashion. The main riff is pretty lame, the vocals are a bit too "nu"-sounding, and stealing the opening lines from "Devil's Child" didn't help. "We Disintegrate" is a solid song that would be much better if not for the pseudo-Middle Eastern wankery that bogs down the end of the song; the chorus is great however. "Inside Four Walls" is a live favorite, but sounds a bit too much like a couple of the suckier tracks on Judas Priest's Demolition (even though this came first) for me to be comfortable with it. Things pick up quickly with the pulsing "Evolution 169," however.
That leads to the album's top spot, "The River Dragon Has Come," where the modern start-stop riffs work because Warrel Dane carries the song's melody, and carries it well. His voice still carries that "straining-to-hit-every-note" quality, probably a result of fucking up his throat doing Rob Halford impersonations on Sanctuary's first album, but he's technically flawless and full of emotion. "River Dragon" is also notable for Jeff Loomis's brilliant guitar work, especially on the dramatic sweep scales preceding the real solo.
From there, the album roars along in good fashion, featuring a really good ballad in "The Heart Collector" and a couple decent ones in "Insignificant" and "Believe In Nothing," the vicious attack of "Engines of Hate" and the rumbling thrash of the title track, and a sledgehammer-pounding, intricate cover of "The Sound of Silence," which shares nothing in common with the original but a short intro and the lyrics.
Speaking of lyrics, this continues the fine Nevermore tradition of some of the best lyrics in heavy metal, most notably "Engines of Hate" - "Sit back, enjoy the words, and feast on my mind's semen" and "Will you watch the hate machines spit evil/Or will you walk away and plead apathy again?" being two examples. The drumming is also stellar, especially on the nearly non-stop cymbal-and-bass barrage of the title track. All four members of Nevermore are incredibly talented musicians; they just need to get their riff-writing back up to par.
So overall, a solid album; just not up to the standards of the previous two. A bit too experimental in places, and the ballads, while good songs, just slow down the attack of the faster tracks. From what I've heard, the upcoming Enemies of Reality seems to have no such compunctions about beating the shit out of its listeners...until that comes out, this is a good release to tide yourself over with.
Doesn't live up to the previous two, but not bad - 76%
Written by Pyrus on June 2nd, 2003
Well, this is no Dreaming Neon Black, that's for sure; then again, it would be extremely hard for any band to match the levels of mastery on that album. Dead Heart instead goes in a new (dare I say "nu?" Nah...) direction, introducing a seven-string guitar and some more chugging, modern-ish riffs than the power/thrash of the previous effort. However, the ripping thrash of Politics of Ecstacy remains very clearly evident, and come out sounding somewhat like Machine Head before they began to suck (i.e., the first album), only faster.
The album has a fairly unconvincing start, unfortunately, with "Narcosynthesis" kicking things off in undistinguished fashion. The main riff is pretty lame, the vocals are a bit too "nu"-sounding, and stealing the opening lines from "Devil's Child" didn't help. "We Disintegrate" is a solid song that would be much better if not for the pseudo-Middle Eastern wankery that bogs down the end of the song; the chorus is great however. "Inside Four Walls" is a live favorite, but sounds a bit too much like a couple of the suckier tracks on Judas Priest's Demolition (even though this came first) for me to be comfortable with it. Things pick up quickly with the pulsing "Evolution 169," however.
That leads to the album's top spot, "The River Dragon Has Come," where the modern start-stop riffs work because Warrel Dane carries the song's melody, and carries it well. His voice still carries that "straining-to-hit-every-note" quality, probably a result of fucking up his throat doing Rob Halford impersonations on Sanctuary's first album, but he's technically flawless and full of emotion. "River Dragon" is also notable for Jeff Loomis's brilliant guitar work, especially on the dramatic sweep scales preceding the real solo.
From there, the album roars along in good fashion, featuring a really good ballad in "The Heart Collector" and a couple decent ones in "Insignificant" and "Believe In Nothing," the vicious attack of "Engines of Hate" and the rumbling thrash of the title track, and a sledgehammer-pounding, intricate cover of "The Sound of Silence," which shares nothing in common with the original but a short intro and the lyrics.
Speaking of lyrics, this continues the fine Nevermore tradition of some of the best lyrics in heavy metal, most notably "Engines of Hate" - "Sit back, enjoy the words, and feast on my mind's semen" and "Will you watch the hate machines spit evil/Or will you walk away and plead apathy again?" being two examples. The drumming is also stellar, especially on the nearly non-stop cymbal-and-bass barrage of the title track. All four members of Nevermore are incredibly talented musicians; they just need to get their riff-writing back up to par.
So overall, a solid album; just not up to the standards of the previous two. A bit too experimental in places, and the ballads, while good songs, just slow down the attack of the faster tracks. From what I've heard, the upcoming Enemies of Reality seems to have no such compunctions about beating the shit out of its listeners...until that comes out, this is a good release to tide yourself over with.
WhiteBeastofWotan
Apostitutes!
hmmmmmmm yeah good review... though i like (and this is just my opinion of course) that narcosynthesis-Inside four walls are great songs, and Evolution 169 is one of NM's more boring songs
FretsAflame
Undercover Shredder
WhiteBeastofWotan
Apostitutes!
FretsAflame
Undercover Shredder
Wolftribe said:
eat cock you fucking cocker...
im just fucking with you - i just happen to be one of the few people who thoroughly enjoy all of the music they put out.
MajestikMøøse
Membrum virile
You didn't even mention the mastery of the best song on that album: That song being the title track....
I mean, c'mon!!!! That song is Nevermore's most underrated song. Period.
I mean, c'mon!!!! That song is Nevermore's most underrated song. Period.
WhiteBeastofWotan
Apostitutes!
MajestikMøøse
Membrum virile
I mean, don't get me wrong, River Dragon, The Heart Collector and Sound of Silence are great, but no one ever even MENTIONS the album's namesake, and in my opinion, it licks them all.
MajestikMøøse
Membrum virile
Lies and Perfidy
Gentleman of the Road
I also mentioned "the rumbling thrash of the title track" as one of the album's top cuts.
I need to review the s/t next.
I need to review the s/t next.
i would review PoE, but it doesn't need one, just listen to any track and youll be dumbfounded with awe
