Nevermore, This Godless Endeavor

Nevermore, This Godless Endeavor (Century Media-2005)

Looking over past albums I have chosen you can see I like heavy metal. But much of the metal world to most people can sound and also, be quite boring. If you can't get into say Slayer and Metallica you may think you don't like that style of music. It may sound to old for you as they have been about for years. Or you just want a more modern sound, something big where you can hear the hard work in the music...

Why not give it one more go. Nevermore are an American band who have been about from the mid 90s. They have done some great albums but this is a real stand out album. Not so much as a good set of tunes but good everything. Production, sound, engineering, musicianship and of course some great riffs. The band have always done a kind of old school thrash sound that has modernized with the black metal sound.

Best way to get an idea is to listen and first track "Born" is all you have to listen to for an idea on the sound here. At times metal does sound better when underproduction helps to give that raw edge. But this band seem to be on another planet here and every single thing that they play you can hear as crystal clear as possible.

DRUMS! man I wish I could hit one drum that sounded as good as this album. Pure utter gold, amazing playing from Van Williams, you think he is just hitting everything all the time but as the album progresses "My Acid Words" shows this man knows exactly what he is doing. Slowing down and barley playing to the music and evolving the album sound from one genre to another in a few drum fills. Amazing.

"Sentient 6" is the first time this album take a ballad feel and even then it is done so well, some nice keyboards and the normal slow timing to make the song feel more emotional but the riffs are here don't worry.

And in the middle a nice instrumental "The Holocaust Of Thought" it is more of a solo lasting 90 seconds, bit odd but if there was no track list you really would not have noticed. Again this album feels so right and it all fits well. "Sell My Heart For Stones" returns to the piano and acoustic sound of before but with some real emotional lyrics. The harmonies help build up what the song is about.

The band up to this point had quite a few albums out and I think they may have got an idea it was the time to make it bigger and "The Psalm Of Lydia" shows just what they can do. Dissecting the song there are 1000 ideas here. You need to listen so close and thankfully the next track is more like a classic metal song, solos and great mountains of noise.

Last track "This Godless Endeavour" titles the album and I see why. Again including many fantastic acoustic passages and that great voice. The bass and drums work so well here and at the start supply a great riff between them. The song is a little like a reprise of the whole album, brave thing to do as I have heard this done many times before and it never really works. But it does here. It could also be a teaser for the next album.

The band and the producer Andy Sneap could not have done anything else to make this better, no tweaks to any dial could have made a single riff or snare drum sound any better. All the planets were in alignment for this one. The press did not miss this one as well, I did see 10/10 in one and all were full of praise. Tours supporting the big bands must have been on the cards.

But the band had some back luck, illness in the band made the tours impossible. No record company can promote a band who can't tour. As they want to build up to the next album. So this album fell under the radar in a way. Well not now, give it a go. This album is my tester album to any new electrical equipment I get. Richer Sounds should give this away with all new amplifiers.

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