If there's just one word to describe how this album sounds to me it's
perfect. I may not be a fan who has been closely following the band from the very beginning, or one of the dedicated few who have been around since the Sanctuary days, but nevertheless I feel 15 was a pretty respectable age and just the right time for me personally to delve into what would become my greatest and maybe healthiest obsession
NEVERMORE. It all started with my almost immediate addiction to the album Dreaming Neon Black not long after its 1999 release. In my experience getting heavily into all kinds of metal (which, looking back, was pretty impressive experience for a lad so young), I had never explored a metal album with quite that kind of depth, both lyrically and musically. I remember many summer nights spent sleepless, studying through that Dreaming Neon Black booklet over and over, never ceasing to find something new that would hit me in a deeper and more personal way than any of my previous metal heroes ever had. This was something that spoke on a completely different level. In fact, in a way this wasn't even metal at all; or at least not quite in the sense that I had come to know and love it. It was possibly the most artistic aggression I had ever heard. And its seemingly direct relation to me personally through its cleverly vague themes was overwhelming. It was like looking into a mirror, in the most fucked up sense you could ever imagine. It was the sacred connection I had to that album that began me on an exploration of the band more thorough than any I had gone on before. Album by album, song by song, lyric by lyric, note by note I began to pick apart the ever-present concepts and general outlook on existence that Nevermore so quietly and eerily made their trademark. The concept of a band with an underlying theme always running through their music is absolutely brilliant if done subtly enough. Especially if they seem to coincide with a lot of the most personal themes running through your own mind and soul. When a band can articulate and present so perfectly the deepest things you think and feel it can be very therapeutic. The most comforting adrenaline you could ever feel. Its an external form of identity that sums up your soul in a simple compact disc you can hold right in your hand or a logo you can work religiously into your wardrobe day after day. It's a special thing and I can't imagine a whole lot of people finding that kind of relationship with anything, let alone a musical act. To this day, I still consider Politics of Ecstasy my bible.
Having said all this, I'm sure you can only imagine the kind of anticipation that a new album brings. Since my initial plunge into the world of Nevermore, it had only happened once prior to this with the release of Dead Heart in a Dead World in 2000. The album was far from a disappointment despite my high hopes. It was great to have an album full of brand new Nevermore material to add into the already heavy rotation the four previous releases were consistently in. It, of course, contained aspects of those elements that make the band the unique masterpiece that they are; and while done effectively it certainly wasn't done with the same kind of depth. The album was like a translation of the band musically and lyrically into a simpler, more easily understood form (even the production seemed to follow this theme). In a way I liked it. A band needs to accomplish different things with each album and Dead Heart in a Dead World was an album that allowed the band a steady foundation to work up off of with albums to come. It is extremely difficult to effectively and appropriately follow up albums as utterly brilliant as Politics of Ecstasy and Dreaming Neon Black; and I truly believe they would have never created the masterpiece that is Enemies of Reality if it weren't for the initial step they took with Dead Heart. That itself is a reason to respect the album, if it simply being good isn't reason enough. It was an album that left you hungry for more, and almost immediately upon hearing Enemies of Reality I realized it was merely an appetizer.
My first listen to Enemies of Reality was brought to me completely out of the blue from a good friend who had downloaded the title track off his computer and burnt it onto a disc. Its almost a nervous feeling when you are about to hear something new from a source that holds such a strong place in your heart. The first couple listens were fairly casual but came with great excitement. I was hearing new Nevermore. The first couple listens were still almost a bit too casual for me though (since listening to the band for me has almost become a kind of meditation) and I knew I had to hear the song again when the time is right before I could jump to any conclusions; But I remember my first thought being "This is exactly the kind of thing you'd hope they'd do. Exactly." It wasn't more than a few hours later 'til the song was in the player once again. I was sure to take the special personal steps I take to ensure appropriate reception of a piece of music, and by the third listen it all came into perspective. It was almost as if Nevermore's entire career (and my own soul searching) had all been leading up to this. It seemed to mix elements of each previous album perfectly into what sounded to my ears to be an absolutely flawless musical composition. It gave me the kind of chills I felt when I first lost myself in the exploration of Politics of Ecstasy and Dreaming Neon Black; and I'm not ashamed to say it brought me to tears. I remember realizing it to be the first time I had ever started to cry while grinning from ear to ear the whole time. It was nothing short of spiritual. It was perfect. And I still to this day have a very hard time expanding on that description.
The entire album is now in my possession and I am yet to decide whether or not it's the greatest metal album I've ever heard. You may be wondering how this can be a review if the vast majority of it doesn't even directly refer to the album itself, but this is the best kind of review I can do because the album literally left me speechless. I can only give you my history with the band leading up to the album and leave you with one single word
Perfect.
Having said all this, I'm sure you can only imagine the kind of anticipation that a new album brings. Since my initial plunge into the world of Nevermore, it had only happened once prior to this with the release of Dead Heart in a Dead World in 2000. The album was far from a disappointment despite my high hopes. It was great to have an album full of brand new Nevermore material to add into the already heavy rotation the four previous releases were consistently in. It, of course, contained aspects of those elements that make the band the unique masterpiece that they are; and while done effectively it certainly wasn't done with the same kind of depth. The album was like a translation of the band musically and lyrically into a simpler, more easily understood form (even the production seemed to follow this theme). In a way I liked it. A band needs to accomplish different things with each album and Dead Heart in a Dead World was an album that allowed the band a steady foundation to work up off of with albums to come. It is extremely difficult to effectively and appropriately follow up albums as utterly brilliant as Politics of Ecstasy and Dreaming Neon Black; and I truly believe they would have never created the masterpiece that is Enemies of Reality if it weren't for the initial step they took with Dead Heart. That itself is a reason to respect the album, if it simply being good isn't reason enough. It was an album that left you hungry for more, and almost immediately upon hearing Enemies of Reality I realized it was merely an appetizer.
My first listen to Enemies of Reality was brought to me completely out of the blue from a good friend who had downloaded the title track off his computer and burnt it onto a disc. Its almost a nervous feeling when you are about to hear something new from a source that holds such a strong place in your heart. The first couple listens were fairly casual but came with great excitement. I was hearing new Nevermore. The first couple listens were still almost a bit too casual for me though (since listening to the band for me has almost become a kind of meditation) and I knew I had to hear the song again when the time is right before I could jump to any conclusions; But I remember my first thought being "This is exactly the kind of thing you'd hope they'd do. Exactly." It wasn't more than a few hours later 'til the song was in the player once again. I was sure to take the special personal steps I take to ensure appropriate reception of a piece of music, and by the third listen it all came into perspective. It was almost as if Nevermore's entire career (and my own soul searching) had all been leading up to this. It seemed to mix elements of each previous album perfectly into what sounded to my ears to be an absolutely flawless musical composition. It gave me the kind of chills I felt when I first lost myself in the exploration of Politics of Ecstasy and Dreaming Neon Black; and I'm not ashamed to say it brought me to tears. I remember realizing it to be the first time I had ever started to cry while grinning from ear to ear the whole time. It was nothing short of spiritual. It was perfect. And I still to this day have a very hard time expanding on that description.
The entire album is now in my possession and I am yet to decide whether or not it's the greatest metal album I've ever heard. You may be wondering how this can be a review if the vast majority of it doesn't even directly refer to the album itself, but this is the best kind of review I can do because the album literally left me speechless. I can only give you my history with the band leading up to the album and leave you with one single word
Perfect.
