### Nemesea: In control

#### 26/09/07 || Lord K Philipson

First off, a huge “FUCK YOU, CUNT!” to Hendrik (guitars) of this band. He willingly accepted to do an interview, but obviously thought the questions were too fucken harsh for him once he got them. It has crossed my mind that I should just delete this review due to Hendrik being a complete pussy, but I like “In control” too much to do that. But I can definitely tell them to go fuck themselves. So Hendrik: Go fuck yourself, loser.

When that’s out of my system, lemme tell you how I got to know about this band.

My good friend and Club Aska colleague Jan Af Koskit came over a few weeks ago for a party, handing over a cd with the words “I think you will like this”. Usually, this guy’s taste in music is quite horrible so the chance of him actually finding something that I would like isn’t exactly John Holmes huge. I’m sure I have used that reference before. So, sue me.

But whaddya know, he’s found me one of the best bands I have heard in 2007. I’m as shocked as you are. Maybe this band is a little too accessible and will wear out faster than Ben Johnson on steroids, then again – maybe they won’t. I so fucken hope they won’t coz Nemesea feels like something that can last for quite some time with me. My erection approves.

Obviously, the Dutch Nemesea’s got 2 albums under the belt, this one being their new one, but I had never heard about them prior to this wonderful experience. “In control” includes material that sometimes sure is reminiscent of Evanescence, only this is more catchy. They really have a strong ability to create some fantastically memorable rock/half-metal, but what does it for me completely are the incredibly sweet vocals of girl (I said “girl”, not “whore”, not “cunt”, not “bitch” but girl. You can tell I’m serious here, right fucko?) Manda. She kicks fellow country chick Sharon Van Der Anus’ (Within Temptation) cunt any given day. It’s not like they are doing the same thing, but they are both chicks and they both sing, so I can do that comparison all the fuck I want. Manda’s vocals are moving me (then again, I get moved by pretty much any fucken given good vocalissa – that’s how metal I am) quite a bit, and in symbiosis with the easy listening that is Nemesea’s music, it’s a deadly combination of sugar, cotton and awesome songwriting. I wanna do dirty, dirty things with Ms. Manda.

But everything is not killer in Nemesea land. Just almost. There is but two tracks that don’t cut it like the rest of the material. “The way I feel” is one, and “Believe” is the other. “The way I feel” features some guy (“Cubworld”, huh?) sharing vocal duties with Manda, and I get the fucken crabs listening to him/it. They should have stuck with Manda only, making this track a decent ballad, but with this fucker on board it makes it pretty much unlistenable. “Believe” is just slow and pretty damn boring. But besides that, man, you are in for a treat if you happen to enjoy the commercial kind of music.

“Never” is probably the best track on “In control”. If bands like Within Temptation and Evanescence can get radio and TV hits with songs worse than this one, it’s about fucken time that Nemesea get the recognition they deserve. “Broken” is another one of those incredibly catchy compositions. And “Remember” is yet another one… I could go on like this for a while since the material is really that strong. Thing is, you have tons of potential video smash hits here. And the production is as good as you could possibly wish for, as if the actual music wasn’t enough.

What I really, really dig (and the thing that give Nemesea a somewhat fresh sound) is the excessive use of electronics, dancey loops and trancey background sounds. We all know I’m a sucker for that in between listening to Cannibal Corpse and Dark Funeral. To make this short, Nemesea’s got their shit down 99% to the core. This particular style won’t get better than this. The guys’n‘gal know how to write for the masses, and once in a while I don’t mind being one of the masses.

On my copy I got the demo versions of 3 of the tunes on this album, and it’s nice to see how they were improved for the album. It’s also nice to hear that tuning down a little actually makes Manda’s voice sound even better. Coz it sure was needed in the first place. Not.

It’s beyond me how bands like Epica (utter shit) and After Forever (pretty much utter shit too) get recognition when there are bands like Nemesea around, kicking their asses all over the universe.

This is music to fuck to. Actually, lemme rephrase that, it’s music to make love to.

8 out of fucken 10. If the 2 lowpoints I mentioned earlier (the tracks, remember) weren’t included here, and instead replaced with two songs of the same caliber as “Never”, this would be rated even a little higher. But still, Hendrik and Nemesea can go fuck themselves for being cunts, not having the guts to answer the interview as agreed. Fuck you.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Sellaband
- Website: www.nemesea.com
- Band
- Manda: vocals
- Hendrik. J: guitars
- Martijn: guitars
- Sonny: bass
- Steven: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. No More
- 02. In Control
- 03. Home
- 04. The Way I Feel (feat. Cubworld)
- 05. Lost Inside
- 06. Remember
- 07. Believe
- 08. Like The Air
- 09. Broken
- 10. Never