Nevermore
Enemies Of Reality

THE REVIEW

Every Nevermore album is a small step in a journey along the path of perfection.
If the first self-titled album and the following EP "In Memory" marked the transition from the Sanctuary adventure, the second "The Politics Of Ecstasy" was the most sophisticated and challenging piece in the heavy metal field I had ever heard. The masterpiece "Dreaming Neon Black" remains the highest compositional peak of their discography, closely followed by the perfect "Dead Heart In A Dead World," in my opinion, one of the best albums of the last decade…
After three long years of waiting, prayers, and continuous listening to these jewels, I finally get my hands on "Enemies Of Reality," the umpteenth pearl of the Seattle quartet. The result? Let's make one thing clear right away, this is the heaviest album the group has ever conceived, accompanied by the raw (or mediocre?) production of the good Kelly Gray (ever heard of Queensryche?). The band continued on the path embarked from “Dead Heart…” intensifying it significantly in terms of sound impact.

Heavy riffs like boulders accompanied by super-fast and intelligent solos crafted by the genius Jeff Loomis intersect with the incredibly heavy drumming of Van Williams. I try to turn up the volume but the cabernet bottles in the cellar tremble, thanks also to the stratospheric Warrel Dane and his damn vocal timbre that corners you and slaps you mercilessly… the same effect of every damn Nevermore album, in short…
The Title Track is one of the most beautiful, heavy, and sick songs I've ever heard, exalting like few others; the second ‘Ambivalent’ flows between breaks and reprises masterfully guided by Dane as in all the other tracks of the album (note the evocative melodic ‘Tomorrow Turns Into Yesterday’ and above all the wonderful ‘I, Voyager’). But if everything seems perfect, why not give it the highest rating?
Simple, in the second part of the album the band gets lost in more stagnant pieces of qualitatively inferior quality compared to the first 6 compositions which, to be clear, are better than 70% of the tracks you hear around but there's always that missing (Nevermore) effect that elevates the quality of the song.

In conclusion, Nevermore has made a great album, always in continuous search for that elusive ingredient that (damn it) always slips through their fingers… when they find it though, you'll have the pleasure of hearing THE true masterpiece from these brilliant minds…