|
|
|||||
Sometimes it seems as if surpassing the
milestone of a great,(and in this case I really mean great) album is a
daunting, if not impossible task for most bands. You know, it's as if a band
really "blows its' wad" on that one spectacular album and then puts
out a series of dissapointments. To be perfectly honest, that is exactly what I
expected from Nevermore upon the follow-up to last year's "Dreaming Neon
Black". "DNB" was one of those once-in-a-career type of
masterpieces. Impossible to top, right? Think again.
"Dead Heart In A Dead World" is neither a concept album nor a deep
foray into the subconcious and past of the band members as "DNB" was.
It is simply a rock solid, end-to-end piece of work which showcases the musical
range and songwriting ability of a truly great band. Each song on this record
lives and breaths in its own space. Covering a range of topics from religious
dogma to social injustice, Nevermore takes you on a trip that you never want to
end. There's just "something" about this release that just gets you.
It's nothing I can easily define in words. To put it simply, it takes a great
effort for me to get this disk out of my CD player.
What really sticks out, performance-wise, is lead singer Warell Dane. This is
practically a showcase album for his immense talent. Just listen to "We
Dissentigrate",(my pick for best song on this album) and you'll see what I
mean. That is not to say that the band is performing below his level. When you
have one member of the team stepping up to a real knock-out level, the rest
usually follow well in stride. That is what happens here. A top notch effort by
one of the best bands in Metal. It will not surprise me to see this at the top
of most best of the year lists.
Each year hundreds of Metal albums are released. Of those hundreds, perhaps
five are must have material. Trust me, this is up in the top three for the year
2000... In fact,(barring anything which may surprise me in the next couple of
months) I'm ranking this as the album of the year on my charts.