Hi all,
After sitting with the record for several weeks now, I'm finally able to confirm my feelings that this is one of the best records Warrel's ever been involved with. I've been a huge fan since the Sanctuary days, and I was really looking forward to this. Personally, I even like it better than the last couple of Nevermore releases. The first time I heard Brother, I almost had to pull the car over on the freeway. I was like WTF?! I've never heard such personal lyrics and voice from just about anybody, let alone Warrel. I still can't hear that song without getting chills.
I'm also a big old-school Sisters fan, and knew WD would do them justice. But I never thought he would own that song so magnificently that it almost renders the original obsolete (almost)!
To be honest, on first spin, aside from those two, the rest of the record surprised me as sounding a bit too much in the same style as Nevermore. I Love Nevermore but I was excited to see in what kind of different direction he could go with a solo record. When I heard about the Sisters cover, I thought the direction might be more darkly melodic than the last couple Nevermore records. It didn't sound that way to me at first, but the nuances quickly settled in, and I realized that this was a pretty different animal. A most welcome one. Not a bad song on the record, and most are great- that's a helluva batting average for anybody.
Great stuff! And judging by some recent interview comments, I'm getting excited about the next Nevermore as well. Warrel has set the bar a tad higher for songwriting with this first solo record (he said there will be more!), and I can't wait to see what the rest of the guys come up with.
Ron
