Nevermore

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Nevermore are a Progressive Metal band (with influences from every Metal sub-genre this side of Norway thrown into the mix) formed from the ashes of Power-Metallers Sanctuary in Seattle, 1991. They are noted for the blazing, technical lead guitar playing of Jeff Loomis, as well as frontman Warrel Dane's distinctively atonal and cynical singing style. Difficult to pigeonhole, the band tends towards the darker, more instrumentally complex sides of progressive music - though chaotic and heavy enough to compete with the most aggressive of thrash bands, they retain many more progressive aspects such as acoustic segments, classically influenced guitar arrangements and Dane's vocal delivery.

Vocalist Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard founded the band. They were veterans of Sanctuary, more or less a power metal group with thrash influences. Guitarist Jeff Loomis had recently quit a death metal band because he was sick of the vocal approach, and was accompanied by Guitarist Pat O'Brien, who would later quit to join Cannibal Corpse (his favorite band).

The band debuted in 1991. They then became more progressive with sophomore effort The Politics of Ecstacy, but otherwise, things remained the same.

Dreaming Neon Black took the progressive instrumentalism of TPoE and notched it down a bit, but the lyrics became far more ambitious. The album is a Concept Album, with lyrics about Dane's girlfriend, who got involved and a religious cult and is now Lost Forever.

However, the band's signature sound didn't settle until the release of Dead Heart in a Dead World in 2001, when Loomis busted out the detuned 7-string guitars and increased the pervasiveness of the Black and Death influences in their sound. However, the album was not without it's softer moments, and whilst these moments are generally agreed to fit on the record (and ballad "Believe In Nothing" is even a fan favorite), 2003's Enemies of Reality, the follow-up, is generally agreed to be their heaviest album overall.

Then, the band went for contrast. The result is 2005's This Godless Endeavor, which has soft moments again (The first halves of "Sentient 6", "A Future Uncertain", and the TitleTrack), but the heavy parts of the album (everything else) got even heavier. This album made many Metal Magazines "Top X Albums of the Year" and "Top X Albums of the Decade" lists.

Then they toured for it. And toured for it. And toured for it.

The intense workout they got from having to play all those songs night after night lead to their most recent effort, The Obsidian Conspiracy, which, whilst still plenty Cynical and Heavy, is becoming regarded as something of a Breather Episode.

It would've been interesting to see where the band went next: Softer? Heavier? More progressive? Even lower guitar tunings? But then Loomis and Drummer Van Williams quit, to the fans' dismay.

Singer Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard are the only current members of Nevermore.

Discography:
  • Nevermore (1995)
  • The Politics Of Ecstasy (1996)
  • Dreaming Neon Black (1999)
  • Dead Heart In A Dead World (2000)
  • Enemies Of Reality (2003)
  • This Godless Endeavour (2005)
  • The Obsidian Conspiracy (2010)
Nevermore provides examples of the following tropes: