Search - Nevermore :: Nevermore (Reis)

A remaster worth buying!

David Falzano | Boston, MA USA | 09/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not every remaster is usually worth buying (I found out the hard way for my Megadeth albums), but this is an exception. Not only is the sound quality improved, but there is FIVE bonus tracks & they are fairly decent too considering the last 4 are rough demo tracks. There also is of course an updated booklet which includes a little story behind the album, live & publicity pics, & the liner notes & artwork has been redone. I would definitely recommend the upgrade if you are a big fan of the band!"

Classic Debut - Remastered

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 12/06/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rising from the ashes of the influential thrash outfit Sanctuary, vocalist Warrell Dane, guitarist Jeff Loomis, and bassist Jim Sheppard went on to form Nevermore, a band that metal fans still find hard to classify after more than a decade. The Nevermore sound - and trust me, no one else sounds quite like Nevermore (though bands like Communic and Twelfth Gate sure seem to be trying hard) - combines elements of thrash, doom, gothic, progressive and even power metal. The result is a sound that is melodic yet aggressive, cold yet emotional, and above all, dark. Thrash-like riffs are predominant, but it's Dane's songwriting and Halford-eqsue vocal performance that really set the overall tone.



Nevermore is one of those rare bands (Opeth is another) that manage to get better with each successive release, so my favorite Nevermore album tends to be whatever one was just released. By that rationale, the band's self-titled 1995 debut is probably my least favorite of their catalog. It's still a very impressive metal album, and one of the best debuts you'll ever hope to hear. I just like their later efforts more, though the song The Sanity Assassin may be the band's very best song. Like all Nevermore albums, the debut practically wallows in cynicism, bitterness and spite. Nevermore isn't here to make anyone feel better about life. They're here to rip back the curtain on politics and religion to show the feeble old wizard pulling the levers.



Just about anyone interested in modern metal genres needs to add some Nevermore to their collection, and while Dead Heart, in a Dead World seems to be the best "gateway drug", the band's debut album provides just as good an overview of their sound.



Century Media's 2006 reissue of the album features digitally remastered sound, 5 bonus demo tracks, the video for What Tomorrow Knows, and expanded liner notes by Dane and metal scribe Martin Popoff. In addition to the b-side The System's Failing, 4 demos from the original 1992 Utopia Demos are included. The demo tracks provide a nice example of the development of Nevermore's unique sound, which unsurprisingly sounded a lot closer to Sanctuary than the songs on the Nevermore debut. The real bonus is the improved sound quality, which brings the original material - now over a decade old - up to par with anything you'd expect to hear today.

"