NEVERMORE – The Politics Of Ecstasy [Reissue]

This is the third and — for the time being -– last album in a row of rereleases of Nevermore classics. One thing that was said about the other two rereleases applies here too: the liner notes are two pages of background information about Nevermore in general rather than giving a lot of insight to the album or the songs. This could be a point where all three could have been better.

But, something is different for The Politics Of Ecstasy: this is the album out of the three that benefits most from better sound quality, for one because the original sound was rather poor, and also because the songs are more complicated and contain so many details that this album needs to be treated like a good Progressive Rock album rather than a Thrash release, and originally the production staff failed to realize this and act accordingly. Strange that sound problems happened to Nevermore again later with Enemies of Reality …

What matters is the music, and the album has not lost any of its appeal over the years. Nevermore showed their really complex side here, which at times seems a bit overburdened with details and is always very close to losing the coherence that holds a song together. But, whenever they are in danger to stray too far from the path, Warrel Dane’s melodic vocals patch the instruments back together, before the vocal line itself speeds off to explore the kingdom of semitones. After all this time, there are still things to discover, and every track is a little masterpiece of musical art in itself. In the development of Nevermore, The Politics Of Ecstasy was probably a necessary step to fathom the boundaries of their musical universe, and by reaching the end of their complexity scale they produced an album that is still regarded as one of their best, if not the highlight of their career. Songs like the title track, the 10-minute epos “The Learning,” and “The Tiananmen Man” are more in the direction of Technical, Old Progressive Thrash heroes like Watchtower, 90s Sieges Even, or Anacrusis, or newcomers like Extol or Biomechanical have become famous for similar music.

But, they also managed to compose tracks that would be good tunes to play live. The opening two pack “The Seven Tongues Of God” and “This Sacrament” are examples, and apart from hitting you like a hammer and being the straightest and most normal songs on the album, both still make it to the live setlist occasionally. No more words: Unless your exclusively preferred styles are Glam, Biker Rock, and Instrumental albums of solo Didgeridoo artists, The Politics Of Ecstasy needs to have a place in your collection.

What the rerelease offers additionally is a bonus track. Unfortunately, it is only one, and one that was already released on a tribute album. It is “Love Bites” from Judas Priest, and if you are familiar with the Nevermore version of “The Sound Of Silence” originally from Simon And Garfunkel, you know that this song has to suffer a lot during Nevemore-ization. A very cool tune, now fittingly dark lyrically.

Is that enough to purchase the album again? The better sound quality weighs heavier here than the bonus track, so as a final score for all three rereleases, the recommendation would be:

Nevemore’s debut album’s rerelease is a must have… In Memory is only worth spending your money a second time if you are a real die hard Nevermore fan, and The Politics Of Ecstasy is somewhere in between, but compared with a lot of stuff released these days, it may provide greater enjoyment, even if you need to purchase it a second time. You will most likely not regret it.