Product Description
One always says that you can’t rush greatness or perfection, and this couldn’t be more true in the case of metal titans NEVERMORE, who last released the highly acclaimed This Godless Endeavor in 2005. The Seattle quartet have triumphantly returned with the much anticipated new full-length release, The Obsidian Conspiracy, which is what could be their most impressive offering of their illustrious decade plus, heralded career. This quintessential metal band was formed out of the ashes of Seattle, Washington, based thrash act Sanctuary in 1991 by Dane and Jim Sheppard (bass), with the addition of Jeff Loomis (guitar, who had played in the final line-up of Sanctuary) and Mark Arrington on drums. A few years later, Van Williams joined the band (drums). The band has since released six full-length albums, toured the world a number of times and captivated the hearts of metalheads touring with such diverse and major acts ranging from Megadeth, In Flames, Disturbed, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir and Children of Bodom, among countless others. Let the conspiracy begin. NEVERMORE are back and stronger than ever before!
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This sounds like they went back to their ultra-simple mid 90′s overly-catchy, boring mediocrity. I’m saddened and disappointed. I hoped that after a 5 year wait they would have at least made an effort, but it seems they didn’t. There might be Ok, riffs, good guitar playing, good lyrics, but the songs don’t seem to hold together because there are super-catchy parts that get old fast, then there are boring parts, and the parts don’t build and work together either. The band doesn’t seem to gel either, like the opening riff, it’s a cool riff, but the drummer plays an extremely generic beat which doesn’t capture the energy that the riff should have. They also don’t seem to have taken the time to develop parts, they just jump right into them.
And the production is just awful. There’s this mid-range rumble where the power should be, the bass drums sound like a sample from an industrial album from 1992, and the vocals are more full and loud which makes the album sound like Karaoke.
The magic that made “This Godless Endeavor” so great is not present on this release.
Rating: 1 / 5
If you order this item from amazon you’re not getting the digipak with 2 extra songs you’re getting the edition with only temptation no crystal ship. They have the wrong information listed here… I could have just bought the cd for 9.99 dollars at fye instead I ordered this for the two songs and it only has the one, so now I paid 6 dollars extra for just one song and I’m going to have to download the other one now anyway. Bad job amazon.
Nothing against the CD, it’s great nevermore is a great band.
the 5 stars is for the item, not for amazon.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve listened to this album many times since it came out, and I have decided that it comes very, very close to being better than Nevermore’s previous album, ‘This Godless Endeavor’ without quite exceeding it. This album cements Nevermore’s reputation as a band that pretty effortlessly blends the ferocity of thrash with the complexity and beauty of progressive metal. ‘The Obsidian Conspiracy’ is every bit as ferocious and every bit as technically talented as their previous works, and Warrel Dane has taken his vocals to new levels of greatness. On this album, Dane’s vocal melodies really bring Nevermore’s understated beauty to the forefront of many of the songs. Furthermore, on the whole, this album has Nevermore playing more like a well-oiled machine than they have on any other album of theirs.
Truthfully, the only things really holding this album back are the first and last tracks, which are regrettably not as well written as any of the other tracks on the album; it’s hard to call an album perfect when the opener and closer are lackluster. That said, there are half-a-dozen other masterpieces on this album, including “Without Morals,” “Emptiness Unobstructed,” “Your Poison Throne,” “And the Maiden Spoke,” and “She Comes in Colors.” Prepare yourself for a surprise on “The Blue Marble and the New Soul” as well – you’ll find Nevermore getting as close as they’ve ever come to writing a blues song. Overall, I think there is more variety on this album than there was on ‘This Godless Endeavor’ and it’ll be up to you to decide if the changing of the band’s focus from consistent brutality to more nuanced artistry was a good move or not. Personally, I think it’s a change for the better.
Dane’s lyrics this time around, while by no means bad, aren’t quite as memorable or relevant as they were on ‘This Godless Endeavor,’ which was a lengthy treatise on real-world politics and philosophies. The lyrics on ‘The Obsidian Conspiracy’ deal more with abstracts and things less relatable than, say, the title track on their previous album which dealt with religion and its place in the world. The lyrics are still very interesting, but not quite as thought-provoking as Nevermore’s previous works.
As I said – this album might have one or two relatively poorly (I use this word hesitantly) written songs, but it only barely detracts from the greatness of the album. Even at their weakest, Nevermore is far beyond any of their peers. This album is the latest in one of the very best and most consistent discographies in metal. If you’re a fan of heavy music, you won’t be disappointed.
Rating: 4 / 5
This is Nevermore’s first truly bad album. They’ve taken their sound and condensed it into nice little verse-chorus-verse-chorus songs that will make any mainstream metal fan squeal. But if you’re into Nevermore’s darker, heavier and more creative compositions, you’ll be massively disappointed.
Loomis must have used up his best riffs in his solo album, because save a couple of cool, technical riffs there’s nothing worth raving about here. He seems to stick to in-key root-fifth progressions more than ever, abandoning most of the dark chromatic sounds that are his signature. His solos are still very impressive but are starting to sound repetitive after the neoclassical fury of Zero Order Phase. Warrel Dane is the biggest disappointment however – his generic lyrics combined with cheesy and often tired melodies make the already boring song structures fall flat on their face.
I’m very surprised that The Obsidian Conspiracy is getting good reviews.
Rating: 2 / 5
Pretty good CD, I wouldn’t say their best, but definitely in the vain of Nevermore.
Rating: 3 / 5