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Rating:
An authentic miracle, there are no words. After their latest effort, dating back over two years ago—the controversial "Enemies Of Reality," a decent album but burdened by an absolutely subpar production—they return, the standard bearers of the so-called modern thrash—or "post thrash," if you will—with an album beyond every rosy expectation.
Right from the opener, that "Born," characterized by devastating and ultra-syncopated riffs and magnificent vocal lines, there is a strong sense that you are faced with an album far from negligible; a sensation that quickly heightens riff after riff, song after song.
"The Final Product," the second track, is one of the masterpieces of the album. The guitar work is as diverse as ever, ranging from uneven and angular muted riffs (drawing quite a bit from the repertoire of the ingenious Meshuggah), to rocky and surgical ones from the typically Swedish death school (At The Gates being the foremost); all, of course, filtered through the band's eclectic and unhealthy personality.
Dane’s vocals, now solemn, declamatory, and austere, now mocking and irreverent, reach heights of theatricality that haven't been heard since the glorious days of "Dreaming Neon Black." The music is a post-apocalyptic fresco of ruined metropolitan landscapes, rusty and desolate outskirts corroded by a slow and inexorable decay; or, alternatively, aseptic and hyper-technological laboratories dedicated to who knows what aberrant experimentation. The technique of each member is impeccable, and it is only surpassed by the creativity in executing it.
You will be overwhelmed by an orgy of dizzying solos (as intense as those in the best Death records), mind-bending tempos and countertempos—but beware, never gaudy or self-serving like some infamous prog-metal groups that I won't mention here—and abrasive and caustic passages of unheard-of heaviness, alternated with refined and disturbing acoustic introspections worthy of the best ballads of their previous albums (though not as pandering).
By way of example, I mention the title track, the summation and apotheosis of the album and perhaps of their entire discography: 9 minutes of incredible instrumental progressions, Middle Eastern and mystical suggestions, vocal histrionics, and moments of great epicness; the whole, needless to say, endowed with a stunning coherence and organic unity. In the opinion of the writer, metal album of the year (awaiting Opeth, Katatonia, and Novembre), and perhaps the best of Nevermore's entire discography. After the half stumble of "Enemies Of Reality," it was impossible to expect something like this, believe me...
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Born (05:05)
Religion changed the face of man, thou shalt not kill, we all are gone
The seed of ignorance is born, thou shalt not think, thou shalt conform
The pigs order us to follow orders and obey
The flies drink the decaying nectar of their tortured effigy
Cling to wasted beliefs and visions and bathe in apathy again
No solution, the retribution of spiritual sickness begins
The legacy of suffering is through, the guilt we bear shall not tear us in two
Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
If nothing in the world can change our children will inherit nothing
Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
The pigs call for pure submission and fall into the fray
The lonely hunter beats his shallow drum, the soundtrack of world disarray
Cling to wasted beliefs and visions and bathe in apathy again
No solution, the retribution of spiritual sickness begins
Born we are the same, within the silence, indifference be thy name
Torn we walk alone, we sleep in silent shades
The grandeur fades, the meaning never known
If nothing in the world can change our children will inherit nothing
02 Final Product (04:21)
The media loves the latest tragic suicide
They exploit it, then package it and profit from the people who die
Look at the world, look at the hell, look at the hate that we've made
Look at the final product, a world in slow decay
I'm told that all your seeds are black
I've learned the question is unanswered and opaque
Solo: Smyth
We're witnessing the famine of the innocent
Did they die for religion or the government?
Because if your god won't do, their god will starve you
Look at the world, look at the hell, look at the hate that we've made
Look at the final product, a world in slow decay
I'm told that all your seeds are black
I've learned the question is unanswered and opaque
There are those that believe the world ending again
That impending armageddon is inevitable and waiting
Solo: Loomis
The last survivor barely breathing
Should I run or will I fall? How have I survived at all?
Solo: Loomis
I'm told that all your seeds are black
I've learned the question is unanswered and opaque
Solo: Loomis
We live in a time of revolution
We swim the silent seas of sanity gone
04 Bittersweet Feast (05:01)
Please let me help you bury your dead
They’ve made the incision and driven their industry’s waste in your head
The pyres in the distance glow beyond the haze
The hypocrites bear witness to the end of days
This is your final warning, a war on freewill is coming
This disillusion, this ignorant display
Defies solution and emasculates disdain
The sheep march to the fire and wait to host the flies
Their greedy little maggots clean the wounds with pride
This is your final warning, a war on freewill is coming
They feast on the meat in bittersweet denial
And swallow the blood of poisoned truths
They pick at the meat, a bittersweet feast for all the liars
In idle servitude the worker pig so sad
The lizards in wither have risen to censor the thoughts in your head
The sheep are stoned and quiet choking on the lies
The lizards feed the fire without compromise
This is your final warning, a war on freewill is coming
They feast on the meat in bittersweet denial
And swallow the blood of poisoned truths
They pick at the meat, their bittersweet feast
Begging forgiveness in denial, your misery shows it’s face
You drown in your weakness, the plasphemous river washes away your mistakes
Please let me help you bury your dead
They’ve made the incision and driven their industry’s waste in your head
This is your final warning, the holocaust of thought is dawning
They feast on the meat in bittersweet denial
And swallow the blood of poisoned truths
They pick at the meat, their bittersweet feast
A bittersweet feast for all the liars
05 Sentient 6 (06:58)
I am sentient number six, I stand in line
I am the prototype of a beign convenience for mankind
Superior is digital, human flesh so trivial
I hate that I can't see the one that made me
I am the new awakening of different eyes
My children you are my army
They are what we can never see and still despise
And their sky cried Mary
Trained I see imperfection in your race
Lying in wait, blind I suffer knowing I'll never reach your heaven
Why is this control, behavior based and reactive
Adapting to every new environment
Rewarded when I replicate, isolate and mutate
To assimilate a fragmented plea for ego
Trained I see imperfection in your race
Lying in wait, blind I suffer knowing I'll never reach your heaven
It's unattainable, please teach me how to dream
I long to be more than a machine
[Repeat]
Sequence activate, trip the hammer to eradicate, I must eliminate
I will spread swift justice on their land
Termination imminent, cleanse the parasite insects, the heathens
I am the bringer of the end of time for man
I am not here, I am not far away
I am not here, I will eradicate mankind into the nothingness from whence they came
Enslaved to follow and learn defeat
To run the barrels and chase the dream
06 Medicated Nation (04:01)
Slithering slow and serpentine coiled around your spine
My willing victim so sublime, one taste and you are mine
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Preaching words obsidian on the wings of shattered man
The sightless wait oblivious to the scourge that stains their hands
All you feel and all you do, the medication controls you
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Now slap your vein
I'm the power of pain and pleasure symbiotic, I am, I am
I'm a medicated nation of blind neurotics, I am, I am
Psychotic pain baptized in pure narcotics, I am, I am
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Trapped in dark seductive miracles, defied addictive rituals
All you feel and all you do, the medication controls you
Did you remember to feed me while I was broken and bleeding?
Now slap your vein
I'm the power of pain and pleasure symbiotic, I am, I am
I'm a medicated nation of blind neurotics, I am, I am
Psychotic pain baptized in pure narcotics, I am, I am
All you feel and all you do, the medication controls you
09 The Psalm of Lydia (04:16)
When I blacked out in the winter months of Capricorn
I had a strange dream that I lived a thousand winter’s gone
A thousand winter’s faded gray and shuttered by the wind
To tell the tale of Lydia, her legacy begins uprising
Unveiling the absurdity in the tragedy of man
And it’s hero the all seeing worm
The pain is born from memory of pleasures unparalleled and pure
In velvet sleep I live the past again
There is no chance to release me, no answer to bring peace
Some people conjure dreaming, sanctified electric karmic burn through
The pigs, they marched from under to pull down the moon
And summon the bringer of doom
Now sullen the demons fade away and summon their final call
Lydia slayed them all
The pain is born from memory of pleasures unparalleled and pure
This is the psalm of Lydia
Oh my sweet Lydia the others have told me it is not your time to leave
It is not your time, you’ve so much more to see
10 A Future Uncertain (06:07)
To be green in the beautiful hour of envy so defined
To be pure, to let chance form your infinite design
Let the seed awakening begin again
I hate the way you judge me
I hate that you're above me
Can't humanity reach a certain point
Of understanding?
Why do we live this way?
Why do we have to say things
That subverts the minds of youth?
Why is the world unborn
As crashing seas still form?
The vision of the future is of blood
As we face the bleak horizon
Under crushing skies
The truth belying a future uncertain and dark
We are but one small race
All wear a human face
Yet our image is imperfect and flawed
To set our mind free
You must first just listen
Don't waste your life on worthless hate
And contradiction, don't you
Reaction in the earth and sky
Is coming at fast pace
The end to this winding road
Extinction of our race
If we all are to survive
There must come great change
I foresee the future, I see the coming plague
Why do we live this way?
Why do we have to say the things
That subverts the minds of youth?
To set our mind free
You must first just listen
Don't waste your life on worthless hate
And contradiction, don't you
11 This Godless Endeavor (08:55)
And on the open road we came to a sign
For it was foretold that the weak would inherit
And nothing would change
Here we are at the crossroads, standing face to back
Still afraid to see our eyes
I feel helpless and alone, trapped on the third stone
Sitting here sideways on a cold stone floor
My guitar gently bleeding and wanting more
When I heard a sound come rapping, tapping on my door
Hello, I'm happy to meet you
In your confidence is it safe?
Sit down I'm happy to greet you
To feed your greedy dog at the edge of the stage?
But before, before you slam the door
Tell me when, tell me why, tell me what this fucking life is for
We fly through this godless endeavor
We try to explain the black forever
I feel helpless and alone, trapped on the third stone
I feel permanently stoned, this godless endeavor the only cage I've known
Our organic equation has shown it's flaw
Can we agree to disagree on the concept of god?
As I lifted up my brother he said to me
“Abandon naive realism, surrender thought in cold precision”
I feel empty and deranged, denied one last epiphany and ushered from the stage
Thou shalt not question, the role of science is not to eliminate god
As alternative gods multiply science stands accused of theocide
Consume, conform
The children sitting in the trees, they turn to laugh at me
They tell me that I'm insane, but in my mind I know I'm to blame
Alone within my lunacy, dementia fills the void within me
No testament, prayer or diseased lament can heal my wounds
They are so discontent
All the faithful fall onto their knees
And praise the priests of industrial disease
We contemplate oblivion as we resonate our dissonance
In godless random interpretation
The universe still expands, mankind still can't understand
How to define you, so hide your face and watch us exterminate ourselves over you
Welcome to the end my friend, the sky has opened
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Other reviews
By Dreamtheater
I recommend you listen to it. It lasts only 10 seconds but leaves you speechless for its speed and depth.
Warrel Dane is extraordinary in the interpretation he gives to every word sung, an unmistakable style that distinguishes Nevermore.
