NEVERMORE – This Godless Endeavor

Some of you out there may believe Seattle is only known for Grunge. Think again. There’s always Queensrÿche and Heart, but back in the late eighties, a band called Sanctuary released two albums, the first of them being produced by Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine –- to this day still one of the best offerings Mustaine has provided to the Metal community. The second album Sanctuary put out, in 1990 to be correct, is even more a classic, and surely a few of you remember the “Future Tense” video being played on Headbanger’s Ball.

Sanctuary lost one of its guitar players, and this youngster from Appleton, Wisconsin, who tried out for Mustaine’s band even a few years before this, was flown in and got the gig. His name: Jeff Loomis. Following this, the other original Sanctuary guitar player wanted the band do go more in the direction Seattle’s music scene was taking in the early nineties, but the singer and bass player, Warrel Dane and Jim Sheppard, respectively, chose to part ways with him, as they wanted to stay true to their Heavy Metal roots. Having a guy like Jeff Loomis at bay must have made the choice very easy.

In came drummer Van Williams and the band picked the name Nevermore, and despite the Spinal Tap-ish second guitar player spot over the years -– now Steve Smyth known from Testament and Vicious Rumors is on board for good –- the four core members remain the same to this very day. Is that because they signed a great record deal and got good advances and were treated right by the industry? No way, but the four still believe that what they are doing is the right thing to do, and as This Godless Endeavor is released, ultimo July 2005, the believers have built a strong following and know how to keep pleasing them.

This Godless Endeavor is Nevermore’s seventh release of dark, Tech-Progressive Power-Thrash Metal, with focus on unique riffs and beautiful, haunting melodies (providing the EP In Memory (1996) comes into count), and it has been spun heavily throughout the summer. The situation is, it’s hard to tell if this is their best album so far, but it sure is another brilliant piece of work. What keeps it from definitely being “the best,” and instead just one the best, is the fact that it at times sounds like a mishmash of all their previous releases, except for the very first, which was really just a collection of demos. You have the a few standout tracks like “Born” (song of the year?) and the title track that show the band moving forward, but the rest seem like the skilled ones are doing what they always did through to a concluding point. Fair enough, though … there are masses of Metalheadz out there who have no clue what they have been missing, thus warranting this brief sum up to begin this review. In the end, you can’t blame the band for trying to once again show what they have been all about over the years, especially now that they have a better sounding CD than ever, along with a new and much improved record contract. Hell, even Mustaine gives his old mates the chance to show off more than ever as Nevermore is the first band on the Gigantour main stage this summer.

Back to This Godless Endeavor … extremely well-produced by Andy Sneap, which comes with a cover that invokes your stare for hours wondering where/when the heck it all went wrong in this world. Singer Warrel Dane has never sounded better, and that’s quite an accomplishment if you know his recording history with both Sanctuary and Nevermore. The rhythm section is unreal; Williams and Sheppard prove that working together for more than a decade has paid off. Williams especially shines on this CD. Then there’s the most underrated guitar player in Metal, Jeff Loomis, who is like a hungry tiger just let loose from his cage. He’s all over this record, with his beyond-belief technique, his sharp-edged riffs, and even his melodic skills that most shredders don’t even care about (one can’t help but wonder where this guy would have been if Mustaine had chosen him for Megadeth back in the day … perhaps in Japan recording cellular ring tones?) Last, Steve Smyth is now also a contributing member to Nevermore, though it is a bit hard to tell the essence of his impact so far, either because he blends in well with the others, or he is given a back seat role for the time being (he did come up with the semi-ballad “Sell My Heart For Stones,” though).

Apart from the mentioned title track and “Born,” two more favorites are “My Acid Words” and “Sentient 6”; the first having the typical Nevermore melody and a riff that makes your jaw drop … the latter a slower piece with dark piano and an incredible guitar solo, but yet heavy as a fully loaded 747. The verse is slightly Queensrÿche-ish, from the time when they had a clue, but Warrel Dane sings circles around Tate any day of the year. If you have had no exposure to Nevermore, here’s a starter for you.

There’s the “Bittersweet Feast,” which is more like a riff feast in a Dreaming Neon Black (1999) setting, and the mid-tempo bass driven “Medicated Nation,” which paces up for the solo part, not to forget the monsterous “The Psalm Of Lydia,” which hits you right in the face and has again a resemblance to the …Neon Black days, most of all because of its main melody. Also, it has the complexity found on 1996’s Politics Of Ecstacy.

This Godless Endeavor will indeed bring Nevermore to the next level –- these over-the-top musicians with the determination of steel deserve to eat cherries with the big names in Metal. Though the CD doesn’t follow the usual progression the band has always made from one release to the next, it is a step up in production, it has the same variety, and it’s another more-than-solid dose of songs played to perfection. It’s about time you also discover Seattle’s finest export …