Nevermore

This Godless Endeavor (Century Media)
by Martin Popoff

Hot on the heels of the re-sculpting of Enemies of Reality, Nevermore unleash a brand new record. Let’s start with the sound: There’s nothing to discuss, fortunately and unfortunately. Fortunately, because the oddity of the initial mix of Enemies is not present, unfortunately, because it sounds all too perfect, without any personality. This is the flawless modern heavy metal production found on countless records, as if evidenced by Van’s bass drum sound, or lack thereof.

Moving onto the music, and Nevermore have found a new level of maturity, if that’s even possible. There’s a cohesion here, a rounding of the sharp prog edges into a massive and moving, mostly mid-paced and slow-end-of-fast thrash. I suppose one production point helps in this regard, and that’s the heaving, huge Machine Head guitar sound. Warrel has retained his geometric, ear-cocked melodies, but he’s a little back in the mix, and somewhat restrained, or refined, or lower of register or something. The briefly ballad-like material is dovetailed seamlessly, and it’s superlative: Nevermore has always written dark, funereal songs in this format, but passages here are novel, and more often than not, strapped to heavy metal rockets. I feel an Opeth-like acoustic album coming on. The complicated prog does indeed intensify near the end of the record. “The Psalm of Lydia” and the title track, a relentless heart attack of an epic, so many examples before in the Nevermore catalogue, shows oldsters like Priest and Maiden how the hungry do it.
(www.centurymedia.com)