### Nevermore: Enemies of reality

#### 14/11/07 || The Duff

I don’t think I’m the only one to have found Nevermore’s last album, “Dead Heart in a Dead World”, a disappointment. That album was nonetheless incredibly well received overall, despite the number of fans not particularly keen on Jeff Loomis’ withdrawn presence (his guitar skills being to many the most appealing aspect of Nevermore’s music).

“Enemies of Reality” sees the band not so much returning to their older sound, but rather over-compensating for their recent lack of guitar-driven tunes and going completely balls out into thrash territory (even occasional death riffing) – a great thing, I might add, even if the classic “Dreaming Neon Black”, dark and foreboding atmosphere with heavy, thick guitar tones may be largely diminished.

One of the chief reasons for this is that the production has not been so gracefully wrought at the hands of Andy Sneap this time around, the task having been undertaken by Kelly Gray (Queensrÿche, Dokken). Some people have labeled the “EoR” production a disgrace, which I believe may be overstepping the mark, but the fact that the band re-released this at a later date with the Andy Sneap touch does speak volumes about how the murky production on “EoR” was perceived ruinous by fans and bandmembers alike.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with the production, as although it does appear very dry, the low-end guitars, vocals and cymbals suffering slightly, I believe Jeff’s lead playing comes out on top. If you don’t know about Jeff Loomis, the guy is possibly one of the best metal guitarists of our time – forget Alexi Laiho and the Ammott brothers, the guy is in a completely different realm altogether.

The vocals always seem to be the one element to Nevermore’s music that is the toughest to appreciate for newcomers to the band, and I wouldn’t disagree that it’s an acquired taste, but you can’t argue that Warrel Dane lacks talent. The lyrics convey a very pessimistic individual, and although I’m all for desolate lyrics, they can unintentionally border the parody (see ballad “Tomorrow Turned into Yesterday”).

Overall, the music is still as strong as with the band’s earliest material, but some of the dreary atmosphere has been substituted for more of a metal attack, making “Enemies of Reality” less significant but just as essential as “Dreaming Neon Black” and “The Politics of Ecstasy” to the metal masses. A welcome step in the Nevermore evolution, and given the musical talent of all the musicians involved, something that unsurprisingly trounces a great deal of the competition.

8 days after the day before tomorrow out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2003
- Label: Century Media
- Website: www.nevermore.tv
- Band
- Warrel Dane: vocals
- Jeff Loomis: guitars
- Jim Sheppard: bass
- Van Williams: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Enemies of Reality
- 02. Ambivalent
- 03. Never Purify
- 04. Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday
- 05. I, Voyager
- 06. Create the Infinite
- 07. Who Decides
- 08. Noumenon
- 09. Seed Awakening