Enemies of Reality

Nevermore have always been one of my favorite bands. They're a controversial band in the metal world. Some people say they are mainstream and talentless, while others hail them as one of the finer metal acts of today.

I believe I'm a part of the latter crowd.

Thankfully, I have the remixed version of this album. I've heard the original mix, it's bad news.

Anyway, onto the album:

This is Nevermore at their angriest. I've always loved and adored Nevermore for many things that they do right. Their rock ballads like Believe In Nothing and their disturbing thrash masterpieces like Poison Godmachine are all brilliant. They do haunting ballads well (Dreaming Neon Black) and they can riff the fuck out of you (The Seven Tongues Of God).

This album really showcases the angry, heavy, and plain nasty side of Nevermore. You've all heard the stories of their issues with their record label, so I'm not going to go into that. What I'm going to say is that this album is a must have for anyone who calls themselves metalhead. The vocals are hard hitting, angry, and sometimes melodic (when it works). The guitar riffs are deadly, constant, and masterfully written, and the guitar solos are even better. The drumming is almost Mike Portnoy level, and the fury, intensity, and passion are enough to make you wet your pants.

Just listen to that solo at 3:52 of the title track! Just listen to that riff that starts off Ambivalent! That shit is fucking untouchable! And just when you think that the album's going to be repetitive and boring, they give us Never Purify and Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday. The former being a more melodic piece of angry metal, while the latter is more of a rock metal ballad.

Every song on this album is a winner, even the strange Noumenon has it's own appeal as a precursor the the MOTHERFUCKER that is Seed Awakening.

Anyone about to pop this album in should expect: angry, intense metal music that's masterfully written, diverse, unpredictable, and downright fucking amazing. This is one of the finer metal albums I've heard.