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mjollnir
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:14 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:43 am 
 

I hung out with Warrel a few times over the years. My favorite memory is running into the Nevermore guys at a 7-11 in Springfield, VA after a show at Jaxx. We hung outside eating chili cheese dogs and discussing the nutritional value ( or the lack thereof) of said hot dogs. He was really cool, down to earth, and just an all around nice guy. This really sucks.
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FatTheGates
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:53 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 8:07 am 
 

traxan wrote:
There's no way he was 48 years old. Mid-50s easy. And after all his years of boozing and diabetes, I guess this isn't a surprise.

It still sucks, though. Now the Nevermore reunion will never happen.


Warrel was 56. He and Jim Sheppard were both born in '61. I think at some point he told people '69 because he looked good for his age, and so people just rolled with it. But he was definitely born in '61, I worked with him and got copies of their passports at one time when setting up some shows overseas. His page on MA was wrong yesterday but has now been corrected; Wikipedia is still incorrect.

And he got the diabetes from the booze. Let that be a warning to all the hard drinkers out there. After your 30s, you need to cut down, or stop.

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Immortal666
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Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 6:32 am
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Location: Philippines
PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 8:46 am 
 

I got into Nevermore late. I saw their articles and ads all over Metal Maniacs throughout the '90s but they were never my priority when I finally got to order metal stuff online in 2001. Throughout the decade I was able to get their albums 'Enemies of Reality' and 'Dreaming Neon Black' which were neat additions to my collection but I still didn't consider myself a fan. And then I bought a used copy of 'Dead Heart in a Dead World' which I intended to give to a friend. I ripped it first to my laptop so I can have at least a digital copy. When I listened to it, I was blown away by how awesome it was. From Loomis' guitar playing to Dane's unique vocals - I was sold! Needless to say, I kept the CD to myself and just explained it to my friend. My friend was disappointed as he was a huge Loomis fan but years later I was able to make it up to him.

As for Sanctuary, I heard of them before and I wasn't impressed. I heard 'Battle Angels' and a friend commented that it sounded like a total Judas Priest rip off. Somehow I was influenced by his assessment and didn't give Sanctuary another listen. Years later I was able to get a cassette copy of "Into the Mirror Black" and was also not impressed. It was only years later when I found an appreciation for Nevermore that I got copies of the first two Sanctuary albums that I was able to finally enjoy their music. I was even fortunate to buy a copy of the comeback album "The Year the Sun Died" while on holiday in Malaysia.

Nevermore was scheduled to play in nearby Singapore a couple of years back but it got cancelled and the band disbanded. I was still hoping they would reunite and tour this region. But alas, with Warrel Dane's demise that hope is now dashed.

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OzzyApu
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Joined: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:11 am
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 8:50 am 
 

Never got into Nevermore because I never liked Dane's vocals. Still sucks.
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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:49 am 
 

Immortal666 wrote:
Nevermore was scheduled to play in nearby Singapore a couple of years back but it got cancelled and the band disbanded. I was still hoping they would reunite and tour this region. But alas, with Warrel Dane's demise that hope is now dashed.


What's even shittier is that I guess Warrel and Jeff had more or less buried the hatchet and were interested in doing a Nevermore reunion tour, but Jeff couldn't get approval from Angela (who manages Arch Enemy) to take the time off to do so. So first we were robbed because Jeff wasn't allowed to stop being a harmonizer pedal for a few months, and now we're robbed because Warrel kicked the bucket. Also remember 2006ish when half the band got cancer or some shit at the same time.

Nevermore seriously must've pissed off a voodoo priest sometime around 2003.
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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:52 am 
 

which would also explain the shitty production on "Enemies of Reality" in 2003 which wasn't rectified until 2005.
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Temple Of Blood
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:05 am 
 

BastardHead wrote:
Also remember 2006ish when half the band got cancer or some shit at the same time.


I only remember Van Williams wife getting cancer, and I think that was when he was out of the band. Who are you referring to?
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TheWaltzer
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:05 am 
 

Metal_On_The_Ascendant wrote:
which would also explain the shitty production on "Enemies of Reality" in 2003 which wasn't rectified until 2005.


Kelly Gray was responsible, so maybe he is the voodoo priest?
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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 11:08 am 
 

Okay according to Wikipedia none of it was cancer, but the band did get pretty well buttfucked with serious health issues that year.

Quote:
2006 held a bit of bad luck for Nevermore, as bassist Jim Sheppard underwent a procedure for Crohn's disease, which he has suffered from for over 15 years, and guitarist Steve Smyth was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, and had to get a kidney transplant.[6] Warrel Dane had previously developed type 2 diabetes, and the band was forced to cancel their show in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 13, 2006, due to an unspecified illness afflicting Dane.
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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:04 pm 
 

After a personal examination of Nevermore's discography, I'm left to conclude that the five year gap between This Godless Endeavour and The Obsidian Conspiracy is one of the biggest tragedies in 2000s metal. I like to think there's a fantastic album that was supposed to come out between the two, but the band's 2006 illnesses in combination with a focus on solo albums in 2008 is really starting to feel like a painful missed opportunity.

Also took the opportunity to listen to Warrel Dane's demos with Serpent's Knight yesterday and it's definitely some interesting stuff. I'd be curious to see how an actual album with that material would've sounded and honestly think that version of White Rabbit may actually be better than the Sanctuary one.
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Temple Of Blood
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:42 pm 
 

That five year gap is probably due to all the personal problems that eventually tore them apart.
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Dungeon_Vic
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:04 pm 
 

BastardHead wrote:
their first two albums are pretty terrible in hindsight, I still love DNB, DHiaDW, and TGE. Unfortunately that's almost entirely due to Loomis, as I think Warrel's voice has been a liability ever since sometime in the mid 90s.


Their first is probably my favorite and The Politics of Ecstasy might just be their most complete and innovative of their albums. Very, very solid and had that urban narco-industrial metal thing going for it that gives it a very unique edge. Dreaming Neon Black has peak Nevermore (s/t, Forever, Beyond Within, Poison Godmachine) but it's an uneven album and while Dead Heart has some great songs I never understood why that one made them more popular.

Man, Warrel was one of the most expressive vocalists in modern metal, his style suited the band perfectly. He destroyed it the past few years (I saw him live twice '15 and '16) doing the entire DHiaDW album and it was almost depressing. Always an articulate dude but obviously the alcohol and whatever other stuff he did had taken their toll on him. But his work on the Nevermore albums? Brilliant.

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amelanchier
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Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:27 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:51 pm 
 

Pitiless Wanderer wrote:
Let's share gigs and any cool Nevermore stories.


I saw Nevermore twice in the early 2000s and I don't go to a ton of shows. Got the impression they toured relentlessly, even before torrenting killed the studio album. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly where & when I saw them. Once in Worcester, I'm pretty sure, and both times were before Enemies of Reality came out.

This is still my favorite (hilarious) Nevermore live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmYUEUCQkBI A rendition of "Sound of Silence" that progressively gets sloppier, Warrel bringing guys from the crowd up on stage, total mayhem...

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amelanchier
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:58 pm 
 

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
BastardHead wrote:
their first two albums are pretty terrible in hindsight, I still love DNB, DHiaDW, and TGE. Unfortunately that's almost entirely due to Loomis, as I think Warrel's voice has been a liability ever since sometime in the mid 90s.


Their first is probably my favorite and The Politics of Ecstasy might just be their most complete and innovative of their albums. Very, very solid and had that urban narco-industrial metal thing going for it that gives it a very unique edge. Dreaming Neon Black has peak Nevermore (s/t, Forever, Beyond Within, Poison Godmachine) but it's an uneven album and while Dead Heart has some great songs I never understood why that one made them more popular.


See, I think of Dreaming Neon Black as fucking gold from start to finish. One of my top 30 or so metal albums of all time, though I understand why some people hate the mastering (at the time it was fresh & cool to have a sound that heavy, even if brickwalled). Politics of Ecstasy is up there too, though, and certainly can be seen as more innovative. Popoff has a line about their bringing the noisiness of grunge into power metal, and that about fits, I think.

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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:13 pm 
 

Temple Of Blood wrote:
That five year gap is probably due to all the personal problems that eventually tore them apart.


Yeah from what I heard the band was basically on the brink of collapse during that whole time. Somebody here explained it once but the short version is that the band wound up splitting into two factions, Warrel/Jim and Jeff/Van and they were always at each others throats. I had assumed they were already broken up in 08 when the solo albums came out since it was sorta not-so-secret knowledge that there was a lot of internal strife with Nevermore, so the official announcement a few years later didn't surprise me (and even that was muddy if I remember correctly, something about Warrel saying they were still active but basically on hiatus and if anything ever happened Van wanted nothing to do with it). The fact that The Obsidian Conspiracy came out at all was a total shock to me.
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Temple Of Blood
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:15 pm 
 

Dungeon_Vic wrote:
The Politics of Ecstasy might just be their most complete and innovative of their albums. Very, very solid and had that urban narco-industrial metal thing going for it that gives it a very unique edge. Dreaming Neon Black has peak Nevermore (s/t, Forever, Beyond Within, Poison Godmachine) but it's an uneven album and while Dead Heart has some great songs I never understood why that one made them more popular.


Absolutely! "Politics" was a mind-blowing album when it came out. You have to compare it to what was out at the time and what came before. It had great songwriting in a new style and was still distinctly metal. Easily one of the best albums of that year, if not the very best.

I think the 2nd half of DNB drags but other than that it's a masterpiece. Tim Calvert is such an amazing guitarist and songwriter. Forbidden was stupid not to use more of his songs.
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Xymosys
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:22 pm 
 

Very sad...I've never been a fan of Nevermore, but this is a fuckin' disaster...
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Turner
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:01 pm 
 

Sad news.... I was a huge fan in the early 00s. Had a Nevermore poster on the wall in my bedroom, saw both Nevermore and Sanctuary live, loved it. I knew Warrel was an alco but had no idea about the diabeetus. Shame.

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Element_man
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Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2005 2:37 am
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 1:40 pm 
 

It's a real shame. I met Warrel Dane a couple times over the years and he was always friendly and wiling to chat a bit. I saw him at one of the first Sanctuary reunion gigs and he was really excited to play--he talked to me about getting vocal lessons for 6 months leading up to the shows and how he wanted to be at his absolute best. He seemed to be having a lot of fun. The Sanctuary gig I speak of was on the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise and the room was PACKED full of members of other European bands who were fans of Sanctuary back in the day and were stoked to check it out. Everyone from Blind Guardian, Rage and Gamma Ray was there. Paul Quinn and Biff from Saxon as well. And the guys from Agent Steel, Jon from Iced Earth and many others. It was a pretty electrifying show, even if Dane's vocals weren't the same at the 80's.

A damn shame.
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traxan
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 4:49 pm 
 

Funny how many people love PoE when that album features Pat O'Brien on guitar and has been in Cannibal for 20 years now. He was a misfit in Nevermore and yet helped make one of its best albums.

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Pitiless Wanderer
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:36 pm 
 

i know it. they've always been at their best with Loomis having a second guitarist either in the studio or live... Calvert, Curran M, Smyth..etc

I saw them a couple times with just Jeff and he destroyed the place but it wasn't the same...

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Temple Of Blood
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:42 pm 
 

traxan wrote:
Funny how many people love PoE when that album features Pat O'Brien on guitar and has been in Cannibal for 20 years now. He was a misfit in Nevermore and yet helped make one of its best albums.


I wonder if pat actually wrote any material on there. I kind of doubt it. Did he even play any solos on there?
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Abominatrix
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 9:43 pm 
 

It's been a while since I listened very attentively, but I did think I could detect two distinct soloing styles on POE. I really don't know, though.

Anyway, I agree with what Temple and others have said about that album. It's just great. I can relate to some of the negativity thrown at the band over the years, but the fact is that in 1996, that album was huge, and different, and for someone like me, who was just really getting interested in metal at that time, it was something very special. heavy as hell, but melodic, somewhat progressive, with influences all across the board from doom to thrash metal, and a guy who sounded like a more venomous Geoff Tate at the microphone.

I saw Nevermore a lot in the early 2000s as well. I never really met Dane, although I almost had a chance to interview him once (he was passed out, though ... probably had a crazy night and a hectic touring schedule). He always seemed to give everything he had to being a frontman and delivering a strong vocal performance, which, at that time at least, he was really able to do. Lots of energy at those shows.

I've liked the first Sanctuary album for a long time, especially for it's incredible vocals. I never really listened to the second, though. I suppose I should remedy that.
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flexodus
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 12:10 am 
 

I feel like people (at least in MA circles) have been wishy washy on Sanctuary, just like reception to Nevermore has been over the years. I wasn't sure how much I liked Refuge Denied, took me a while to get it, but I can say now it's a pretty fucking cool record. A bit sloppy with the pacing and songwriting at times, but when it's on it's dead on. "Sanctuary" in particular I feel is super underrated, and it has some of the coolest vocals I've heard from Dane (the way he sings PERFECT KNOWLEDGE :O) It would be an average-ish record without him, but he really brings a ton of atmosphere and lifts some of those songs into the stratosphere. Sometimes he had a scratchy tone to his voice that felt kinda corny, but it helps the music to not feel like a pristine Ryche/Crimson Glory clone that was becoming a thing at the time.

Into the Mirror Black is a lot thrashier than the debut, but it doesn't have any huge highs like "Die for my Sins". Still good, but just a more level experience. I need to explore Nevermore more, haven't heard much beyond the first album and TGE.

RIP to one of the most unique shriekers metal ever produced.
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~Guest 394415
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 10:23 am 
 

.


Last edited by ~Guest 394415 on Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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LefterisK
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 5:40 pm 
 

Here's some footage from a TV show he did two weeks ago (Nov. 30). So sad to know he is gone...

Haven't stopped listening to his music these past three days.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/watch- ... his-death/
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traxan
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:23 am 
 

Blabbermouth has a clip of Warrel performing DNB acoustically just 2 weeks ago. Holy hell he is in bad shape. This is like watching those clips of Lemmy in late 2015 when the end was obvious.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/watch- ... his-death/

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MrMcThrasher II
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 4:39 am 
 

All I know of Nevermore was that Pat OBrien was on an album. Is that album worth listening to?
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Oddeye
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:18 am 
 

You guys should give The Year The Sun Died a spin. While it's not perfect album I quite enjoy it for what it is. "Arise and Purify" is a great opener :headbang:

OT: This is a fucking shame. Way too young. The funny thing is I kind of always had this idea that I didn't like Nevermore but after Warrel's death and this thread I listened to some random songs on Spotify and I really, really liked it. Which album would you guys recommend me to start with?

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ChineseDownhill
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:59 am 
 

Quote:
The funny thing is I kind of always had this idea that I didn't like Nevermore but after Warrel's death and this thread I listened to some random songs on Spotify and I really, really liked it. Which album would you guys recommend me to start with?


I'm not familiar with their entire discography so take this with a grain of salt, but I say This Godless Endeavor.

TGE and Dreaming Neon Black are the two albums with the highest average review score here, and I think TGE is better overall. DNB is severely uneven in the second half, while TGE has some of its best songs near the end. Some of the positive reviews for This Godless Endeavor are from people who admit they had never liked the band before, but were won over by that album.
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BastardHead
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 11:09 am 
 

Oddeye wrote:
The funny thing is I kind of always had this idea that I didn't like Nevermore but after Warrel's death and this thread I listened to some random songs on Spotify and I really, really liked it. Which album would you guys recommend me to start with?


They're all pretty unique from one another in all honesty.

s/t: Probably the grooviest. It's a bit underdeveloped in parts and some of the riffing is brain dead stupid, but I can enjoy about half of it for what it is. CBF is cool and The Sanity Assassin is popping out in my memory as another one I liked a lot. The best songs are probably Garden of Gray and Godmoney, though they're both basically pure bouncy groove metal and the latter has some of the most idiotic lyrics ever. The other half of the album is pretty boring from what I remember.

The Politics of Ecstasy: This is the one Pat O'Brien was on, and it's the weird, dissonant, experimental one. I kinda have a soft spot for The Learning but otherwise this one really grew away from me over the years, and to date it's the only one that's fallen so far that I find it actively annoying to listen to. It's getting a lot of love in this thread though so it's certainly worth a look. Seems like I'm in the minority.

Dreaming Neon Black: Pre-2005, this was the Nevermore album. It's super emotional and melodramatic but it's got some serious bangers in the fray. Beyond Within, I am the Dog, The Fault of Flesh, Poison Godmachine, and No More Will all totally smoke, and the title track is one of their better ballads. The Lotus Eaters is shitty though and Cenotaph is a really bad attempt at what I think they thought doom sounded like? It's a bit uneven in spots but overall it's good stuff. For a long time this was their most iconic album so this is definitely one of the ones I'd recommend starting on because it gives a good taste of all the different approaches they take.

Dead Heart in a Dead World: Don't quote me on this because I didn't get into the band until a few years after this, but I think this might've been their "breakthrough" album. It's definitely decidedly more modern than the three previous and has a few more radio friendly tracks to be found. Believe in Nothing is one of their most enduring songs, which is a shame because it fucking blows. It's completely overshadowed by The Heart Collector, which is their best ballad and also on the exact same fucking album. How Believe in Nothing became the hit when people could've chosen The Heart Collector instead is a total mystery to me. Having four slow/ballady tracks was probably a mistake overall because three of them are lame, but the rest of the album is good. The River Dragon Has Come was always the easiest song to find on p2p programs back in the early 2000s so it was likely a lot of peoples' first exposure to the band, which is good because that one rocks. The title track is also super underrated, it's surprisingly jam packed full of epic shit for only being five minutes long.

Enemies of Reality: This one was kind of tragic. The original release had a notoriously shitty production job that stained its reputation permanently. It was remixed later by Andy Sneap and sounds a lot better on there so make sure that's the version you hear. About half the songs are totally inconsequential and go absolutely nowhere, but the good songs are arguably the heaviest and most aggressive they ever got. The title track, Seed Awakening, and I, Voyager (the first song of theirs I heard, which instantly hooked me and started my fanboy phase) all fucking decimate. The rest of the tracks I could do without, so it's not exactly worthwhile as a full album but it features three of their best songs.

This Godless Endeavor: When I mentioned that DNB used to be the definitive album, it's because This Godless Endeavor came after and just blew the rest of their discography out of the water. This was the big one, the one that 90% of fans immediately declared their best and haven't wavered in a decade on that assessment, and the one that I even saw a lot of previous detractors begrudgingly admit was pretty good. Just everything about this one was a step above everything before. Loomis' soloing here has yet to be topped (potentially even including his solo work), Van suddenly got a million times better at drumming, Smyth was the perfect foil for Loomis, it's the first time that Dane's buzzword littered lyrics actually seemed to be delivered with real venom in addition to the melodrama, this one just had it all. Pretty much every track is good in some way, but there are a few standouts. Final Product has a ludicrously cool tapping section and their catchiest chorus, The Psalm of Lydia is a shredder's wet dream come to life, the title track is the most epic thing they've ever written (the minute long sweeping section behind the snarling vocals is such a fucking cool sequence) and it caps off with the first falsetto shriek Dane had even attempted in years and it's just the most fitting climax to the whole experience. Sell My Heart for Stones is the token shitty ballad and Sentient 6 kinda whiffs but everything else just smokes. It's widely seen as their best album for a damn good reason and it's one of the few that I still listen to with any regularity now that my fanboyism has faded.

The Obsidian Conspiracy: I mentioned previously that it was actually kind of a miracle that this one wound up released at all, because the band was in a constant state of implosion for years leading up to it. I suffered a hard drive crash in 2011, and since then, according to iTunes, I've listened to The Termination Proclamation four times and nothing else. Listening to it now as I type, I still think this is a really good song, but the rest of the album is just so clearly on autopilot. They obviously didn't have their hearts in this one, releasing it purely out of obligation. It's completely unsurprising that they broke up shortly afterwards, because the intra-band friction didn't wind up creating something brilliantly dark and aggressive like it did for Judas Priest or Anthrax, instead it made all of them just want to get the fucking thing over with. All the momentum from TGE was gone by the time this came around, and it's a sad bunny fart of a swansong.
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Acrobat
Eric Olthwaite

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 12:14 pm 
 

I never spent much time with Nevermore (what I've heard of Jeff Loomis's guitar playing makes him seem like the exact opposite of what I want in a guitar player). That said, the second Sanctuary album is really fucking good; I'm always surprised that it doesn't get more props among us USPM nerds. The debut's solid, too, 'Die for My Sins' is ace. Warrel's voice was definitely the main attraction, too, though I can see why it's not too everyone's taste. RIP.
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Morfiend
Metalhead

Joined: Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:54 pm
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Location: WA
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:45 pm 
 

Obsidian Conspiracy and Enemies of Reality are probably the weakest but they're still great. To be honest, they're all good including the In Memory EP. My top 5 Nevermore albums change all the time, I guess it just depends on what kind of mood I'm in because they're all different in their own way. My top 4 could rotate at any time but s/t is solidly at 5.

1. This Godless Endeavor
2. Dreaming Neon Black
3. The Politics Of Ecstacy
4. Dead Heart In A Dead World
5. S/t

Losing Chris Cornell and now Warrel has been really tough for me to handle. I live in the Seattle area and it's been a blessing seeing so many amazing musicians from the area grow into legends. On the other hand, seeing so many of these great artists die so young has been really hard.
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traxan
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Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2015 6:52 pm
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 7:10 pm 
 

If I didn't dislike that coont Gossow before, I sure do now. This was posted on FB by a friend of Warrel.

https://www.facebook.com/sinanspd/posts ... 4164774590

I want you to know that he indeed came really close to a Nevermore reunion, he had everyone on board and the only obstacle on the way was Angela Gossow. She knew that a Nevermore reunion meant Arch Enemy being left in the shadows and could possibly lead to them losing Jeff. Thus she specifically put this in Jeff's contract and kept it from happening. I want the entire world to know that it was Angela who prevented this and I want everybody to hear my promise that I will see to that, that Angela faces the consequences of her greed for that is what did not grant this man his final dream.

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~Guest 417309
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Posts: 373
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 8:07 pm 
 

The Obsidian Conspiracy is one of my favorites, I really enjoy every song on that album. The choruses are super catchy without exception. I've played that album a fucking lot in the last seven years. Your Poison Throne is possibly my favorite Nevermore song period.

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Pitiless Wanderer
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Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:34 pm
Posts: 1710
Location: Ankara
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 8:53 pm 
 

BastardHead wrote:
Oddeye wrote:
The funny thing is I kind of always had this idea that I didn't like Nevermore but after Warrel's death and this thread I listened to some random songs on Spotify and I really, really liked it. Which album would you guys recommend me to start with?


They're all pretty unique from one another in all honesty.

s/t: Probably the grooviest. It's a bit underdeveloped in parts and some of the riffing is brain dead stupid, but I can enjoy about half of it for what it is. CBF is cool and The Sanity Assassin is popping out in my memory as another one I liked a lot. The best songs are probably Garden of Gray and Godmoney, though they're both basically pure bouncy groove metal and the latter has some of the most idiotic lyrics ever. The other half of the album is pretty boring from what I remember.

The Politics of Ecstasy: This is the one Pat O'Brien was on, and it's the weird, dissonant, experimental one. I kinda have a soft spot for The Learning but otherwise this one really grew away from me over the years, and to date it's the only one that's fallen so far that I find it actively annoying to listen to. It's getting a lot of love in this thread though so it's certainly worth a look. Seems like I'm in the minority.

Dreaming Neon Black: Pre-2005, this was the Nevermore album. It's super emotional and melodramatic but it's got some serious bangers in the fray. Beyond Within, I am the Dog, The Fault of Flesh, Poison Godmachine, and No More Will all totally smoke, and the title track is one of their better ballads. The Lotus Eaters is shitty though and Cenotaph is a really bad attempt at what I think they thought doom sounded like? It's a bit uneven in spots but overall it's good stuff. For a long time this was their most iconic album so this is definitely one of the ones I'd recommend starting on because it gives a good taste of all the different approaches they take.

Dead Heart in a Dead World: Don't quote me on this because I didn't get into the band until a few years after this, but I think this might've been their "breakthrough" album. It's definitely decidedly more modern than the three previous and has a few more radio friendly tracks to be found. Believe in Nothing is one of their most enduring songs, which is a shame because it fucking blows. It's completely overshadowed by The Heart Collector, which is their best ballad and also on the exact same fucking album. How Believe in Nothing became the hit when people could've chosen The Heart Collector instead is a total mystery to me. Having four slow/ballady tracks was probably a mistake overall because three of them are lame, but the rest of the album is good. The River Dragon Has Come was always the easiest song to find on p2p programs back in the early 2000s so it was likely a lot of peoples' first exposure to the band, which is good because that one rocks. The title track is also super underrated, it's surprisingly jam packed full of epic shit for only being five minutes long.

Enemies of Reality: This one was kind of tragic. The original release had a notoriously shitty production job that stained its reputation permanently. It was remixed later by Andy Sneap and sounds a lot better on there so make sure that's the version you hear. About half the songs are totally inconsequential and go absolutely nowhere, but the good songs are arguably the heaviest and most aggressive they ever got. The title track, Seed Awakening, and I, Voyager (the first song of theirs I heard, which instantly hooked me and started my fanboy phase) all fucking decimate. The rest of the tracks I could do without, so it's not exactly worthwhile as a full album but it features three of their best songs.

This Godless Endeavor: When I mentioned that DNB used to be the definitive album, it's because This Godless Endeavor came after and just blew the rest of their discography out of the water. This was the big one, the one that 90% of fans immediately declared their best and haven't wavered in a decade on that assessment, and the one that I even saw a lot of previous detractors begrudgingly admit was pretty good. Just everything about this one was a step above everything before. Loomis' soloing here has yet to be topped (potentially even including his solo work), Van suddenly got a million times better at drumming, Smyth was the perfect foil for Loomis, it's the first time that Dane's buzzword littered lyrics actually seemed to be delivered with real venom in addition to the melodrama, this one just had it all. Pretty much every track is good in some way, but there are a few standouts. Final Product has a ludicrously cool tapping section and their catchiest chorus, The Psalm of Lydia is a shredder's wet dream come to life, the title track is the most epic thing they've ever written (the minute long sweeping section behind the snarling vocals is such a fucking cool sequence) and it caps off with the first falsetto shriek Dane had even attempted in years and it's just the most fitting climax to the whole experience. Sell My Heart for Stones is the token shitty ballad and Sentient 6 kinda whiffs but everything else just smokes. It's widely seen as their best album for a damn good reason and it's one of the few that I still listen to with any regularity now that my fanboyism has faded.

The Obsidian Conspiracy: I mentioned previously that it was actually kind of a miracle that this one wound up released at all, because the band was in a constant state of implosion for years leading up to it. I suffered a hard drive crash in 2011, and since then, according to iTunes, I've listened to The Termination Proclamation four times and nothing else. Listening to it now as I type, I still think this is a really good song, but the rest of the album is just so clearly on autopilot. They obviously didn't have their hearts in this one, releasing it purely out of obligation. It's completely unsurprising that they broke up shortly afterwards, because the intra-band friction didn't wind up creating something brilliantly dark and aggressive like it did for Judas Priest or Anthrax, instead it made all of them just want to get the fucking thing over with. All the momentum from TGE was gone by the time this came around, and it's a sad bunny fart of a swansong.


Lot to unpack there and I don't have time. Interesting post, though. It does give me pause that you feel the way about Politics that you do. I mean, it's like their best record all around.

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Pitiless Wanderer
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:34 pm
Posts: 1710
Location: Ankara
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 8:54 pm 
 

nekrosonic wrote:
The Obsidian Conspiracy is one of my favorites, I really enjoy every song on that album. The choruses are super catchy without exception. I've played that album a fucking lot in the last seven years. Your Poison Throne is possibly my favorite Nevermore song period.


Personally, I can't stand that song.

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~Guest 417309
Metal newbie

Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2017 3:30 am
Posts: 373
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 9:40 pm 
 

I can see how the RISE RISE RISE shit would kill it for some but when that shit came out I was fucking banging my head off my car steering wheel RISE RISE RISE.

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Pitiless Wanderer
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2017 7:34 pm
Posts: 1710
Location: Ankara
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:02 pm 
 

Yes, precisely why I can't stand it, haha. No for real, it's not thaaaaaat bad, but it's easily the worst song on the album. Way too radio friendly.

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Shadoeking
Metalhead

Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:34 am
Posts: 1254
Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:06 pm 
 

Very sad to hear about this. I have not really been a huge Nevermore fan over the years, though I do have a couple of their albums. Sanctuary, on the other hand, I do really enjoy. I have been listening to some of the early Sanctuary albums all day after hearing about this. Dane had a terrific voice that fit well with the style.
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