Metal Reviews

I think the strongest tracks are on the back half of the album. Not that I found the first 2 boring, but you should really give the whole thing a chance.

I totally Agree IMO the good tracks start with Moonrise

lol that exact same thing happened to me. The "Rise, Rise!" part is just really really lame. Honestly though, I have always only listened to Nevermore for Jeff Loomis. I've never particularly enjoyed the vocals though they never were so bad I couldn't enjoy the music behind it.

I really just don't like his style personally, I realize he is a great vocalist if you are into that sort of thing though.

I've listened to the entire album about 6 times. It's pretty lame. The title song's first minute starts to have real promise and then..... it just slows down. Very similar to The intro to "The Serpent's Kiss" by Symphony X. Why tease your audience into thinking the song is going to be this thrashtastic kickass guitar anthem and then just say, "Nah, fuck you guys." and play a midtempo song to finish it off.

There isn't a single song on here that's better than the worst songs off of Enemies of Reality or This Godless Endeavor.

Say what?

I just don't understand how this album is "lame." If you want a thrash album go listen to - get this - a Thrash band. Nevermore is not a thrash band. Sure, thrashy riffs are an important part of what they do, but so is atmosphere. I think one of the best things about this album is the balance of those two aspects of their sound. The thrashing doesn't get stale because it's only part of the album.

In other words, this album is great on many different levels.

I like the new reviewer guy! He's even harsher on this album than I was.

I like him as well, there's not much hope for us haters in this world. We have to stick together. This album is lame. Though I've just given it two listens.

To each their own I suppose.

I thought this was shit the first two times I listened to it. I was ready to forget about it until I read this review and I gave it another chance. Now I think it's great.

Must have played it about 6 times now and I still think it's the weakest album Nevermore has ever released.

Nevermore has always been incredibly overrated, so I don't doubt that this is gloriously mediocre as well. Last I checked, they couldn't write a memorable song to save their life so I'm guessing this is more of the same.

Could be blown away ofc, I'll have to give it a listen eventually I suppose.

Here's the thing. Nevermore have been at this for a long time. Each album they have been expanding on their sound and it culminated (at least for me) in "This Godless Endeavor". It was a thrashy prog masterpiece, with only one weaker song (Being The Psalm of Lydia, which gasp... is the "trashiest" song on the album).

That being said, Nevermore reached a plateau with that sound and they needed a change. They either needed to up the prog, ie. 20 minute songs etc. or up the heaviness. They decided to go the heavier route as I expected. Unfortunately, with that extra heaviness they had to sacrifice their more prog roots which was inevitable. That isn't my problem with the album. My problem is that rather than take a giant leap forward into this new direction they took a couple of baby steps.

I listen to the album and every once in a while it reaches a point where I think that it is finally going to let loose with the heaviness, but it never does. It is constricted in it's own sound so that it can't go any farther. There are moments on the cd that I think to myself, "God... blast beats would be great here, Fuck... some growls would be awesome here... God damn! a black metal influence would be amazing here!!!!" But it never happens. Nevermore are a heavier band than they ever were, but are still not that heavy compared to the majority of bands releasing material. So even though by their standards it's balls deep, they still don't have the stones to play with the big boys.

Hell, DREAM THEATER (my favorite band, but still, not a "cool" band by any means) has ventured into blast beats and growls.

I'm not saying that Nevermore needs to do these things to be a good heavy metal band. What I'm saying is that if they want to be considered a "heavy as balls" metal band, then they should have stepped up their game instead of dumbing down their music and turning up the volume a little bit. To me, it sounds like a bunch of 40 year olds trying to sound "new" and "fresh" instead of sounding like themselves.

Damn... now I want to listen to "The Fault of the Flesh" or "Ambivalent". THERE is Nevermore at their peaks!

People overanalyze things where it's unnecessary. Nevermore has it's own sound and you either love it, hate it, or need to take the time to get it.

This is probably the most accessible album in their catalog. That being said each Nevermore album has it's own identity. One album is not better or worse then another. If all you listen to is bands that have the range of hocking up snot from their chest then this band is not for you.

That must be the stupidest thing I've ever read about a band's discography. If I follow your "reasoning", this very site has no purpose whatsoever.

Didn't much care for this. I think I listened to it once :\

Dream Theater doing growls is not good by any means; it's perhaps the lamest thing I've ever heard them do. They seriously need to cut that shit out, because it's not doing anything for them.

I thought the same after two listens, but I'm really liking it.
I don't recall immediately loving a Nevermore album ( I did like Dead Heart, In a Dead World more than any other on a first listen though).

Their music is sonically loaded so it is hard for me to get it all in.
I also think that they are a band you have to listen too when you're in a certain frame of mind.

Great analysis really. A gold star for the new poster!

I disagree I like all the albums but:

This Godless Endeavor,Dreaming Neon Black,Dead Heart In A Dead World > S/T,Politics Of Ecstasy,Enemies Of Reality

You're all crazy, this is great. "Sometimes she moves the chairs downstairs" come on, how is that not genius?

I do seriously like this album. Gave it a good score.