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July 24, 2008 |
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July 16, 2005
By Tony Antunovich
All photos Copyright © 2005 METALEATER - Do not use without permission.
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On Saturday, July 16, 2005, Studio Seven in Seattle, WA was the place to be if you're a NEVERMORE fan (and if you live within reasonable proximity). Hosted by KISW 99.9 FM's Metal Shop, hometown metal heroes NEVERMORE held a special CD release party for their brand new album, "This Godless Endeavor". The free event gave local fans the chance to hear the band's new material 10 days before the album's official release date. As expected, it came as no surprise to NEVERMORE enthusiasts that the new songs are clearly some of the band's best to date, and as co-host Steve Rock from KISW's Metal Shop explains, it's pretty much impossible for the band to deliver anything less at this point in their career.
"I've been a fan of NEVERMORE for like a decade now, and I've said it a few times today - it's impossible for them to suck! It's not going to happen anytime soon, man. I've always loved these guys. Kevin, my co-host on Metal Shop - they're his favorite band of all time. I mean, over any PANTERA or METALLICA or whatever - NEVERMORE wins! And we've spoken to a few people at Studio Seven this evening that would agree with Kevin. I just love that they're still doing what they're doing. They've evolved, but they've still kept basically the same kind of "feel", you know. A lot of bands always stay exactly the same - it can kind of become stagnant - and other guys just go way off the charts trying to experiment with all this crap. I think they did it almost perfectly as far as them being musicians that are just close to being geniuses. They've always seemed to change up the sound a little bit while still keeping the melodies, the choruses, and just everything that you really feel, you know."
He goes on to say, "As far as doing this, we loved doing it last time (for "Enemies Of Reality"), as last time they actually played for their CD release party, which was great. It was a little better because the kids got to mosh. So it's a little more subdued than just listening to a CD, but the overall feel is everybody loves it. No surprise. It's exactly what I was expecting from these guys and I wouldn't expect less."
As for the album itself, Steve says that everybody seems to be giving it the thumbs up thus far. "It's not even out yet and I've already read online and just heard through the grapevine how people are really diggin' on it. I mean.... I think "Enemies" is one amazing album and I'm only on the second listen, but this ("This Godless Endeavor") could succeed that, definitely."
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All five members of NEVERMORE (Warrel Dane - vocals, Jeff Loomis - guitars/keyboards, Jim Sheppard - bass, Steve Smythe - guitars, Van Williams - drums) were present to speak with fans as the intoxicating sounds of the band's new masterwork, "This Godless Endeavor", permeated through the building. The album title itself may (or may not) be easily interpreted, but as guitarist Jeff Loomis explains, there is a very deep level of complexity behind "This Godless Endeavor".
"The question has been asked, "Is this a concept album again?", but it's really not. I mean, we've already done that in the past with "Dreaming Neon Black". Basically this is more of a record that's based on topic upon topic, you know what I mean? Warrel's writing about the meaning of life. He's writing about the system that we live in and things like that. But basically, "This Godless Endeavor" is about different religions in the world and how sometimes religion can group categories of people together and cause good things, but sometimes it can cause bad things, and sometimes religion can even cause wars - holy wars or whatever. So he kind of wanted to get his point across with that really. But it's not a negative thing at all. It's just something that he's thinking in his mind that he wants to get across, and he really wants the listener or the reader to intertwine with his head as far as the craziness that he comes up with goes.
It's very difficult for me to describe some of his lyrics because sometimes I don't see him until the very end (laughs). But he's a brilliant poet man, and if you read into what he's saying, it's quite incredible."
NEVERMORE are hitting the road this week as part of the summer-long Gigantour lineup and will tour Europe beginning in mid-September. "This Godless Endeavor" will be released on July 26 through Century Media. [FIN]
» Official NEVERMORE Website
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