Enemies of Reality

You know when you go into a really great music store and find about 20 albums you'd like to buy? Such was the case on the day I found Nevermore's Enemies of Reality. I was in Norwich and the record store in question was new to me, and to my dad, who was suddenly struck by the idea that he could get some money for his old vinyls, even though he didn't know where they were and wouldn't come back to Norwich again. In the end, I narrowed my choices down to 3 albums which I hadn't seen on sale anywhere else: Aura Noir's Deep Tracts of Hell, Portrait's Crimen Laesae Majestatis Divinae, and this. Initially, I was slightly disappointed with all of my purchases, feeling that the reputation of the bands (most of whom were first-time listens) was greater than the evidence. While the other albums grew in scope, Enemies of Reality pretty much turned me off Nevermore for ever.

A comparison that I've not seen much but that does some justice to both bands should line up Nevermore and Biomechanical shoulder to shoulder and examine their major elements and songwriting style around the early/mid-'00s period. While the genre mix of Biomechanical seems a little more out there than Nevermore's power thrash turned groove, it essentially comes down to the same ambitions that stunt the appeal of both groups: playing with a little too much technicality and too little feel, then singing to the limit regardless of what else is happening. On the other hand, where an album like The Empires of the Worlds has me jumping to my feet and then slumping back on my chair, Enemies of Reality has me in a perpetual state of expectation coupled with annoyance. Dane and Loomis never seem to get on the same page throughout the 9 tracks here, resulting in a selection of average tracks, which I can dismiss much more easily than the occasionally exceptional ideas that Biomechanical produced. It always feels like something is about to happen in a big way, the whole sonic range pressing against the edge of a membrane, yet nothing really bursts through despite frequent efforts.

I've seen that effect put down to poor production and mixing, though the band are guilty of playing too busily too often as well. The chaotic feel largely comes from Jeff Loomis, who uses an awful lot of notes to perform rather dull thrashy groove riffs; largely speaking, the energy and intent exist, but the riff itself doesn't go anywhere, leaving the rhythm duo stuck in a claustrophobic groove that can't be cultured to betterment whatever their efforts. Hearing Van Williams batter away on 'Never Purify' could well be today's metaphor for helpless frustration, so little difference does it make. Creativity also hit a low point in places, 'Create the Infinite' coming on like a stock Lamb of God track circa 2007 (chronology aside, LoG did it better). Obviously, not all the riffs suffer this way, 'Ambivalent' forging an odd sort of modern death pattern that I don't dislike. The ballads therefore come as a welcome surprise, 'Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday' creating space by its sparseness that allows each member's parts room for finesse, particularly highlighting the more controlled side of Warrel Dane's dominant vocals.

Those vocals compound the issue of the squashed sound on most of the more intense songs, attempting to build their own intensity during at least half of the verses and choruses. I've got no beef with Dane's tone most of the time, yet he's pushing at the edges of his ability by squalling out urgent lines all over the place, remaining fairly high-pitched while hanging onto the gritty edge of a thrash singer. At moments such as the melodic chorus of 'I, Voyager', his talent shines through and atmosphere is allowed to accrue, something that the frenetic assault of groove and wailing elsewhere can't muster. For that chorus, the double-tracking of vocals that extends over much of the album feels anthemic, though I'm really not sure that Enemies of Reality needed more layers over the mush of guitars and drums.

Recently, I've become aware that I often end reviews by saying something like, "For all my complaints, XX album isn't really that bad." It's true, I don't feel any intense dislike of Nevermore's fifth full-length, yet I can barely bring myself to say anything good about it either. The structuring of 'Who Decides' exceeds the level of practically everything else here but stylistically caters to other music fans than myself, while the chunky rage exhibited on 'Seed Awakening' satisfies most of the more aggressive compositions. To balance me being momentarily nice, 'Noumenon' is a fucking waste of a cool principle and I can draw close comparisons between plenty of the material here and Slipknot's more commercial later stuff, which isn't damning of an album from my point of view but should do the trick for most of this site's readers. About 7 years after buying it, Enemies of Reality continues to disappoint.

This album is considered to be a stylistic turning point for Nevermore, largely because the band took on a far more formulaic songwriting approach and Warrel Dane began to tone down the more grating aspects of his harsh vocal work. While the weaknesses of the band have generally been downplayed, key strengths of the band, though few and far between, remain intact for the most part. Loomis’ lead work steals the show whenever it enters, showing obvious tendencies towards Malmsteen’s constant speed meshed with a slightly more neo-tonal character, and the rhythm backdrop of the arrangement is generally tight and together.

While definitely a step up from the previous 4 albums, “Enemies Of Reality” does leave a good bit to be desired in many areas. Repetitive grooves and those annoying atmospheric sections where the guitar all but disappears behind the vocals and the drums, pull this heavily towards Machine Head territory. The overall tone of the album is heavier than previously, with a really deep, modern sounding guitar tone in the rhythm tracking, which becomes somewhat of a double edged sword depending on the character of the riff set. For instance, that Middle-Eastern tinged part during the chorus of “Ambivalent” essentially turns to mud instantly and pulls the bottom end out from under a fairly decent half-thrash song.

There is an oddly charming simplicity to this that actually works against the general monotony of the 90s groove scene. Loomis draws from a fairly limited riff set, although the tendencies within it capture something a little closer to a Slayer/Deicide sound at times, rather than the usual mishmash of minimalist chugging and dissonant, newer Fates Warning sections. A close listen to fist pounding riff monsters like the chaotic “Create The Infinite” and the gallop steeped “Seed Awakening” definitely showcase something of a death/thrash character to this newer sound, although with slightly less coherence from one section to the next. In fact, if this album decided to settle on a few less ideas here and there, and didn’t jumble all of these near random tempo changes into the mix, it would be all the better for it.

In spite of this newer approach, and the heavily concept album oriented nature that has come with it, Nevermore hasn’t full shaken off all of the crappy, almost grunge-like aspects of their older sound. Boring, plodding, uninspired half-ballads like “Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday” and “Noumenon” are classic examples of how hypnotic clean guitars and Warrel’s severe hernia patient cries turn into an instant nails on the chalkboard scenario. The opening part of the former sounds like it could have been lifted off of a Nirvana song, minus being a little bit more elaborate. I guess starting a band in the 90s and being from Seattle obligates you to write a couple of songs purely for the purpose of pissing off anybody who wants some strain of metal in their listening experience.

“Enemies Of Reality” is not quite an album worthy of constant derision, and caries some positive elements that point towards the complete turnaround that happened on “This Godless Endeavor”, but it often gets bogged down in the same stylistically contorted mess that has tainted this band since their inception. There are some actual hooks to this and some near equally familiar characteristics for the listener to grab on to, but ultimately this is the sort of album that is best taken in small doses and only popped in occasionally. People who are generally fans of Pantera, Machine Head, newer and heavier Dream Theater, and certain strains of newer death metal will find things to like here, but few will be fully pleased by the entire album.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on March 28, 2010.

As an avid Nevermore fan, I enjoy this album. It's heavy, it's powerful, it's pretty in-your-face. As an avid music fan, bleh. Gray's production was horrid and the re-release wasn't fantastic. It seemed like the drums were just there to sit in the corner and be pretty. The bass was horridly overshone by the guitars, which were way out of proportion with the rest of the instruments.

Warrel's voice wasn't at it's best on this album. His range is amazing, as usual, but he was either having an off few months or Gray raped his recordings.

There are a few notable and, indeed, amazingly well-crafted songs to be found here, if you care enough to wade through the rest. While fairly difficult to get into, Ambivalent is a great song with powerful riffs and a great drumline. Seeds of Awakening is a fairly fun song with a good deal of talent poured into it.

Other songs are either way out of place or seem to have been done with little regard for the finished product. For the first few seconds, Noumenon is very interesting and attention-grabbing - then it's monotonous and boring. The title track, while being a fast-paced and definitely heavy song, just feels awkward, as though the band members were playing their instruments in one hand and juggling in the other.

All in all, I enjoyed the album. It's nowhere near "bad," but nor is it a shining beacon of musical mastery. If you're just getting into Nevermore, this should be among the last releases you get.

I want to preface this by saying that Enemies of Reality is not a BAD album in any way shape or form, and is still worth having for any avid Nevermore fan. I just like this album significantly less than Dead Heart in a Dead world, Dreaming Neon Black, and This Godless Endeavor. Anyway, moving on.

Every album I've mentioned so far has something that I love about it. I really enjoy almost every song and the variety on Dead Heart, I enjoy how deep and introspective Dreaming Neon Black is while still retaining its metal quality, and I love This Godless Endeavor for... well... the title track which is an unbelievable song. But Enemies of Reality doesn't quite have anything I can name. It's hard for me to put my finger on why, the album is definitely heavy and fast-paced with some great riffs and opportunities for head banging galore. And that's all good and well but it still comes down to the fact that nothing really stands out to me. Nothing on that CD makes me want to rush to the CD player, nothing gets stuck in my head on repeat for hours. It's possibly because much of it seems somewhat bland to me as opposed to something you put on as you absorb the music. Or maybe I just don't feel like there is enough interesting variation in the CD. Could be all of the above, it's hard to say. I also don't care for the brevity of the CD which is somewhat unusual considering most of their other work is longer.

In terms of a heavy Nevermore CD, this is a great offering. But to me it feels somewhat uninspired and lacking the depth that I associate with their other work. It's still a must have for any Nevermore fan, but if you are looking at getting into this band I would seriously suggest NOT starting here.

Nevermore have always been one of my favorite bands. They're a controversial band in the metal world. Some people say they are mainstream and talentless, while others hail them as one of the finer metal acts of today.

I believe I'm a part of the latter crowd.

Thankfully, I have the remixed version of this album. I've heard the original mix, it's bad news.

Anyway, onto the album:

This is Nevermore at their angriest. I've always loved and adored Nevermore for many things that they do right. Their rock ballads like Believe In Nothing and their disturbing thrash masterpieces like Poison Godmachine are all brilliant. They do haunting ballads well (Dreaming Neon Black) and they can riff the fuck out of you (The Seven Tongues Of God).

This album really showcases the angry, heavy, and plain nasty side of Nevermore. You've all heard the stories of their issues with their record label, so I'm not going to go into that. What I'm going to say is that this album is a must have for anyone who calls themselves metalhead. The vocals are hard hitting, angry, and sometimes melodic (when it works). The guitar riffs are deadly, constant, and masterfully written, and the guitar solos are even better. The drumming is almost Mike Portnoy level, and the fury, intensity, and passion are enough to make you wet your pants.

Just listen to that solo at 3:52 of the title track! Just listen to that riff that starts off Ambivalent! That shit is fucking untouchable! And just when you think that the album's going to be repetitive and boring, they give us Never Purify and Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday. The former being a more melodic piece of angry metal, while the latter is more of a rock metal ballad.

Every song on this album is a winner, even the strange Noumenon has it's own appeal as a precursor the the MOTHERFUCKER that is Seed Awakening.

Anyone about to pop this album in should expect: angry, intense metal music that's masterfully written, diverse, unpredictable, and downright fucking amazing. This is one of the finer metal albums I've heard.

There have been stories flying around about this album ever since its release. The general concensus is that Nevermore were given a tiny budget to record the album with and their contract with Century Media was expiring, so they got pissed and out came Enemies of Reality. It's a fast, thrashy little number that aims to stab you in the jugular before you know it's even there, and for the most part, it succeeds. But Nevermore has always been about far more than that. I don't normally do track-by-track reviews, but there aren't that many tracks here, and there are fewer gems than there are duds.

EoR opens up with the title track, which is one of the best songs on the CD. It's got great riffs and a mindfuck's worth of diminished key solos from Jeff Loomis. It's nasty, dark, and pissed-off, with an epic chorus. Great way to start the album. Ambivalent...is not so great. One of Nevermore's only problems on their other records is that they enjoy using flatted-fifth chords without going anywhere with them. Dissonance just for the hell of it is very, very boring, and they use too much of it on this one. There are some great riffs, but the songwriting kinda sucks, with everything feeling disconnected. Warrel's vocals are top-notch as usual, but they don't get a lot of breathing room due to the fast pace of most of the songs. Solos are frequent and stupidly fast. I swear Loomis must've taken steroids to perform this shit, as he hasn't done anything as fast since. Van Williams' drums are the one thing on the album that gets better without losing any of the Nevermore feel. Lots of double bass usage, and damn, he makes it sound good. The bass, per usual, isn't really there.

Never Purify is definitely one of my favorites, as it slows down and works on the melody instead of just trying to take shots at your balls. Beautiful vocals, a very unique rhythm, and a great guitar solo should be more than enough for any Nevermore fan to salivate over. Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday is a ballad that sounds like your average alt-rock song. It feels a bit out of place but isn't bad by any means. I, Voyager is another downer... some decent riffs and vocals, but it feels disjointed and gets boring quickly. Create the Infinite is better but nothing special.

Who Decides is absolutely marvelous. It's one of the darkest and most depressing songs I've ever heard. With a melody that harkens back to the acoustic portions of Dreaming Neon Black and superb vocals from Warrel Dane, this ballad is by far the best song on the CD. The lyrics here are also great, forcing the listener to consider post-modernist philosophy in asking who decides what moral absolutes are.

Noumenon and Seed Awakening are a powerful pair indeed. The former is an eerie, spacey drone song which segways into the latter, which is by far the most thrashy and insane song Nevermore has ever done. Like the title track, it's really quite good, but not in the typical Nevermore style.

Make sure to get the remastered version, seeing as the original version's production sucks harder than Paris Hilton on a Saturday night. The remaster is scooped to high heaven, but it works surprisingly well and gives the bass drums a spectacular, thunderous roar. On one final note, the lyrics on this one are some of the best Dane has ever penned. The "enemies of reality" theme is conscious and prevalent throughout the album, and the lyrics are more philosophical than usual. This is a testament to the band- with any other group, they might get pissed and write lyrics about personal relationships that prove to be whiny and annoying, whereas Nevermore actually got more mature and sophisticated.

To sum it all up: EoR is good, but not great. It's definitely my least favorite Nevermore album, and the boring tracks are exceptionally boring, but the good ones more than make up for it. I personally find that Nevermore's usage of melody is one of the best parts about the band, but if you want things a little thrashier and heavier, EoR was made for you.

The circumstances under which this album was crafted were not the most favorable of ones. Nevermore was involved in a dispute with their label, Century Media. The band’s contract was about to expire, and the label really wanted to renew them. However, they used certain undesirable tactics to accomplish this. Basically, what it boiled down to was the fact that Century Media gave the band an incredibly small budget with which to record the album. As a result, the band couldn’t afford to have Andy Sneap, who did “Dead Heart, In A Dead World” do the mixing job for it. Who did they hire? They hired former Queensryche guitarist Kelly Gray. The album suffered tremendously for it, as it sounded really bad. (Of course, the label was able to re-sign the band, and consequently shelled out the money to have Sneap remaster it. Even that, however, doesn’t sound all that great. That’s how bad of a job Gray did.)

How is all that pertinent to the album itself? It’s actually a very simple correlation. You see, the band was clearly not happy with the situation that they were put into in making this album, and boy, does it show! Where “Dead Heart” before and “This Godless Endeavor” after were very progressive-metal oriented, this album is just visceral, heavy, and just plain pissed-off. Guitarist Jeff Loomis and company churn out some of the most straightforward, fist-pumping riffs that they have ever written. Never has the band been so angry at everything to the point where it actually affected the sound of the music.

As far as the production goes, the original version is just horrible. I’ve heard some demos with better quality than this “label-financed” (using the term loosely, of course) album. The guitars are very muddled, the drums are hidden, and everything just sounds like a big muddy mess. Sneap did a wonderful job on the remaster, especially considering what he had to work with. The remastered version takes away most of the sludge, but it is nowhere near as crisp as the two other Sneap albums that Nevermore had, “Dead Heart” and “Godless”.

The album may not be the best one because of its straightforward nature. However, it is definitely a classic Nevermore album in its own right. Of course, take that with a grain of salt, as one should not go into this album expecting to hear “Dead Heart” part 2. This album just plain smokes, though. I would not be surprised if this album is the band’s peak as far as pure heaviness is concerned. Almost every riff here is fast and brutal. Warrel Dane’s vocals are some of the most biting, almost atonal ones he has ever done.

Highlights on this album include the two tracks made into videos, opening track “Enemies of Reality”, and the Meshuggah-styled “I, Voyager”. “Ambivalent” is also a really great song, with probably the best chorus on the album.

Days past, months past, years past and the hour has come, after the amazing “Dead Heart In A Dead World”, “Enemies Of Reality” the new album of Nevermore has came to shake the foundations of the metal scene. Nevermore is a band who came here to stay, they’re not copying anyone, they just create music, music which is free and undefiled. Nevermore playing pure metal, i don’t like to put labels in music, they’re pure metal and that’s which counts. The title “Enemies Of Reality” is really provocative, what these minds thought again to put this exciting title for their album. Listen to it and discover it.

The album starts with a crashing song, it’s raw, it’s powerful’ thrashing and destructive, it’s called “Enemies of Reality”, starting with a mind blowing guitar and one perfect heavy riff. The vocals of Warrel are the best for this kind of music, he sings with passion, I feel his anger through this music. The chorus is catchy, heavy enough but melodic too. The lyrics are about society, reality and this whole bunch of shit that everyone has to come up with. The guitar work is nice, rapid solos, sharp and tough. After this tremendous song the album continues with “Ambivalent” and the steady tough rhythm is here too, a nice heavy riff and nice shifts.

The third song “Never Purify” is one of the best in the album with “Enemies Of Reality” it comes straight to the point, no introductions here, no boring music, the chorus here is interesting, melodies, another extraordinary thrashing guitar solo and that’s it, a perfect song. The fourth song is a classic Nevermore ballad, “Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday” has this spooky style of Nevermore, Warrel can sing ballads too yeah and his is voice is very good in this too. However the song gets more heavy after awhile with a nice guitar solo, i like the fact that the ballads of Nevermore have all this dark feeling, it’s not the classic ballad style, it’s not banal, it has style because sometimes it gets heavy and bursts with tearing solos and mad guitar playing.

After this, “I, Voyager” comes which is a total headbanging song, brutal with the noteworthy 7-string riffing here, the song it’s close to six minutes and every part of it surrounds you, i believe that the best point here is the crashing solo, Loomis is one of the best metal guitarists now for sure, perfect song with a catchy solo. The album continues in the same heavy/thrash style with “Create The Infinite” a nice nasty tune here, very noisy and powerful. After this the album goes on with “Who Decides”, a classic Nevermore song with a very rough introduction and some guitar sounds really gloomy and dark, this band has the advantage to make heavy songs with this depressive feeling around them.

The eighth song is “Noumenon” and it’s not a ballad, it’s a metal psychedelic song with the best lyrics that i’ve ever seen and great melodies, a mad song which makes the atmosphere in the whole album darker. The last song is pure metal, “Seed Awakening”, a thrashing tune full of the pounding of the drums with great guitar work and riffs, the solo is totally great here, it’s not much but very intense.

So some years after “Dead Heart In A Dead World” Nevermore releases a great album “Enemies Of Reality”, this band can’t stop creating new pure metal tunes and that’s of course good for us. This album has not the length of “Dead Heart In A Dead World” but the songs are heavier, the production is raw and the outcome, another one awesome work. You must find this album, you must listen it, you must have and you won’t get bore of it. Maybe the only con here is that it could be more bigger with other heavy songs. But, for 40 minutes of headbanging it’s alright, enjoy it.

I had never heard about this band 'til I hear the song "Seed Awakening" on a sampler. Oh my God. I immediately ran to the record shop to get the album. Frankly, this is worth it. The kick-ass riffing by Jeff Loomis ("Seed Awakening" intro, "Ambivalent"...), the awesomely energic drumming providing shitloads of power to the songs and the clear weird voice of Warrell Dane make this band sound really unique if you ask me. Moreover, constant riff changings and mathematic complexity (try to understand the exact guitar parts on "I, Voyager"s main riffs!) transcends the material, showing technical prowesses without making this boring or inefficient at all. No song here sounds like another one from the album, and this band can sound awfully pissed off as well as melancholically moving, without sounding mallcore at any time. I really enjoyed listening to it, although I thought the sound was not great.
After having listened to Nevermore's other albums later, I plainly realised that the production there was kinda weak indeed ("Dead Heart" is far better produced, and don't mention "Endeavor"!), but hey, if you too listen to Black and/or DeathMetal, you'll admit there's worse sometimes. FAR worse. And "Reek of Putrefaction" remains a kickin' album even though it sounds as if it had been recorded in the sound engineer's rectum. If you still can't pass through it, get Andy Sneap's remixed version.
Summing up, I consider "Enemies" is a great Metal album, Nevermore a great band, and no, I've not been paid to write such a fuckin' elogious review. If you're not familiar with this band, consider this record a fine way to start listening to it.

Best songs:"Enemies of reality", "I,Voyager", "Seed Awakening"
"Weak" songs:"Create the Infinite"

Enemies of Reality is an amazing successor to "A Dead heart in a dead world". It’s way different than any other Nevermore album. It sounds way heavier and groovy. Warrel's vocals and Loomis's guitar work is spectacular in this album. The opening track "Enemies of Reality" is a killer. The opening riff is mind blowing. Jeff puts out 3 outstanding solos in the song. The chorus of the song is catchy and addicting. Ambivalent is rather boring but Warrels vocals save this songs dignity. Never Purify has a rather poor start. I personally don’t like songs starting of with vocals, but in this song it keeps significance. Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday is slow but yet good. Its an average song nothing really worth mentioning about it, I Voyager has a sick solo on it. That made the whole song worth it. Create the infinite is another good track. Who Decides sort of reminds me of the old Nevermore and has its own sound. Noumenon, this song is disgusting. I have no idea why this song was put in. It’s long, boring and slow. Seed Awakening has some sick riffs by Loomis done on it. Warrel's vocals are ok but the guitar and drum work is spectacular.

Overall the whoe album is a great effort by the legends Nevemore.The only downfall of this cd is the extremely long songs. The track Noumenon couldve had been taken out. But the rest of the songs are amazing.

Highlights: Enemies of Reality, Never Purify, Tommorow turned into yesterday

Of the six albums Nevermore released, this one is surely the oddball. Rather than the usual epic feast their albums tend to be, this is very straight-forward and pissed off. The songs are clearly more to the point with less emphasis on depth. There has been a lot of talk about the weak production, but now that the Andy Sneap remix is here its clearly strengthened. Some of the stuff on the album sounded quite mallcore, thanks to the production that chunked almost in the same way as St. Anger (well, nothing could be THAT bad).

Many of the tracks have taken a turn for the better with the this mix, especially "Enemies of Reality", "Ambivalent" and "Create The Infinite" sound great. Guitar lines have become audible and I've come to realize that this disc is very good, while still a bit flawed. Thank god for Andy Sneap. The lead guitar also sounds a lot better now that it's not covered by drumming echoes. I already knew these solos were nice, but this propels them to the greatness of the previous Loomis works.

Essentially, "Enemies of Reality" presents a bunch of the most frustrated Nevermore songs to date. The whole band, especially Warrel, are sounding like the label issue wasn't in vain after all. The irritation have proven to be a great overall base for this album.

The only real wrongs I can find here are two tracks. I've never really liked "I, Voyager" and I can't say that it got propelled even with this masterful production. It remains quite plodding, boring and over-groovy. It's simply not a very good song. The drugged-out tranquillity of "Noumenon" also seems a bit like a waste of space.

"Enemies of Reality" has proven to be quite a good album, now that it got the benefit of not sounding like banging cans together. While it's not up to par with Nevermore's best work, it stands find on its own.

First off, on a musical note...this band is genius! Everything from the pulse pounding drum patterns to the insane shred fested riffs of Jeff Loomis, the music that these guys create is undeniably amazing. However, not all is without misfortune. Warrell Dane can't sing...at least not anymore. When Sanctuary first surfaced, his voice was clear and powerfull...often resembling a lesser skilled Halford style of vocals. Its become clearly evident that with each Nevermore release, Dane's vocals have gotten progressively worse. This album for me is the final nail in the coffin. Just listen to the title track on this album and you'll hear exactly what I mean. His voice is so fuckin' forced at times, it sounds as though he's struggling to reach many notes...and fails to deliver on a consecutive scale of failed attempts. Dreaming Neon Black and Dead Heart were two amazing albums...and as previously mentioned so is this album, at least musically.
I can't understand why Dane's voice has become nothing more than an annoying shriek of out of key ear trauma. If this band had a different vocalist...they'd be one of the leading thrash bands in the circuit today.
This album is much darker than the last two albums, its extremely heavy and has some very complex and intricate song structures, that even through their complexity...manage to flow as one ginormous woven artistic thrash laden experience. In and of itself this album, on a musical note deserves probably a 90. Unfortunately, I can't look beyond Dane's horrendous vocals that are at the forefront of this incredibily talented band.
It almost seems unfair that this ultratalented band have a frontman who simply cannot match their talent.
Worth listening to solely for the music...be sure to disregard the vocals...unless your up for an ear ache.

A lot has been written about the production of this album, which is pretty horrible; the power of (especially) 'Dead Heart In A Dead World' was partly in the dominant bass drums of Van Williams. Andy Sneap exactly knew how to mix those in. But Andy Sneap was already working with Arch Enemy (on an album that sucked pretty bad too, but he did a great job on the production) and Nevermore didn't get the money to work with Andy Sneap from Century Media (because this was the last record they signed for). It's true, the production is awful, but if the production is awful, and the song material is good, it doesn't matter.
Well, you might know to which direction I'm heading; the song material on this album isn't that good either. The album kicks off good with the title track, but it's all downhill after that. 'Ambivalent' kicks off with some wonderfully shredding and agressive guitars, but the chorus is horrible. Same goes with 'Never Purify', apart from the fact that the verses of that song are pretty weak too. 'Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday' is an okay ballad, misses a little power, but it's not bad. 'I Voyager' starts of greatly but then something goes wrong...what the fuck were they thinking when they wrote those verses? There's nothing right with the rhythms in there...'Create The Infinite' and 'Who Decides' are pretty strong tracks, especially the latter one with its unusual structures. Then there is 'Noumenon', which gives a whole new definition to the word "filler". Too long, too vague and too useless.
Why do we have to wait for the last track for a brutal, good track? 'Seed Awakening' is heavy and complex, yet still melodic.
So what do we have here? 'Enemies Of Reality' is a very good track, 'Create The Infinite' is above average, 'Who Decides' is very good and 'Seed Awakening' is too...that makes 4 good songs...believe me...even Andy Sneap couldn't have rescued this album...

Nevermore have been a band sometimes referred to as "The Great White Hope" for America's metal scene, and before Enemies Of Reality, they had released three great (not good) albums in The Politics Of Ecstasy, Dreaming Neon Black and Dead Heart In A Dead World. (I have yet to hear their self-titled disc and In Memory EP.) But this album, unfortunately is a step backward in two areas - songwriting and production (the latter much, much moreso). The songs, for the most part, are decent, but the production just about kills them. The guitar sound and (especially) the drum sound are very muddy, thanks to Kelly Gray. Warrel Dane was very upset with his record label, in fact, for not giving them enough money to pay for Andy Sneap, who did an excellent job producing DHiaDW. But I digress.

"Enemies Of Reality", "Ambivalent" and "Never Purify" are solid songs with some very good riffing and soloing from Jeff Loomis. Warrel Dane is, as usual, on top of his game on these two songs, as once again, his vocals shine. "Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday" takes the top spot on this album, as the bad production doesn't bother me on this album, and this is Warrel Dane's top vocal performance on this album. In some ways, it reminds me of "Deconstruction" (from Dreaming Neon Black), it's both smooth and sinister-soounding. "I, Voyager" is another excellent song, and is probably the thrashiest piece of work on this album, with fast drum work from Van Williams and more fast riffing from Jeff Loomis. Loomis' guitar work is actually very good on this album, I only wonder what could be achieved if a two-guitar attack was used on this album. "Create The Infinite" has a nice pulsing rhythm to it, and features some absolutely predatory Warrel Dane vocals. "Who Decides" is the other ballad on this album, and Dane's emotional vocals once again steal the limelight here. "Noumenon" is not a very good song though - it's just too strange, especially with the songwriting and arrangement of the song. "Seed Awakening" is a pretty good thrasher, and ends the album on a good headbanging note, almost like "E.Vil N.Ever D.Ies" does on OverKill's The Years Of Decay album. The drumming is very fast and over the top, as Van Williams can drum with the best out there.

And that's it - only nine songs in all, clocking in at barely over 40 minutes - another downside of this album, aside from the production. This is still for the most part a solid album, but maybe we will get a re-mixed Enemies Of Reality, but don't get your hopes up. Let's just hope Nevermore can avoid another production blunder like this, so we can really enjoy the music we know they're capable of.

The openings and verses of most of the songs on this album feature crushing riffs, heavier than anything else outside of extreme metal (and heavier than quite a bit of "extreme" [harsh vocal] metal, for that matter). The riffs sound like something Carcass or Entombed could have written (especially in terms of guitar tone). They're also mostly devoid of the start-stop "groove" and soft/melodic elements that were more common in DHiaDW and Dreaming Neon Black. Not COMPLETELY devoid though, just MOSTLY.
The choruses are the more melodic, toned down power-metally sections a fan of Nevermore is probably pretty familiar with. They're generally not expressly melodic, but they tend to be vocal-driven more than the verses.

The solos seem to be pretty damn technical, almost show-offy. They sure as hell work, though. One of the solos from the title/opening track is outright insane!

Some metal fans will be pleased to hear that the drums aren't insanely loud. Generally this is a good thing, though at certain points I felt a louder kick/snare/crash would have fit better. The vocals are still as strong as ever, though they really only take precedence in the choruses.

I only have one major complain with this album. The soft songs. To go from the Swedeath-ish monster "Never Purify" to "Tommorrow Turned Into Yesterday", a song dominated by vocals and accentuated by undistorted guitar (which isn't even 'soft' because the notes ring out, creating too much dissonance), and back into the raging beast of "I, Voyager" just doesn't MAKE SENSE. The first three tracks are exhilarating, and by the time you hit the fourth you're more likely to be bored as hell by a soft song than to appreciate the mood.

Nonetheless, this is a strong album marred slightly by poor placement of songs and the oft-focused on production (which isn't really that big of a deal).

This is the second time i've reviewed this album do to someone taking all the reviews off the "actual" album and instead put the Limited Edition on here with no reviews. But in any case here i am still listening to this, and just as the other reviewer pointed out and everyone has "WHY THE FUCK DID THEY GET KELLY GREY FOR PRODUCER?" I could produce a better fucking album better than this idiot. I'm not even kidding, I have a band that has better production. Thats the main thing that bothered me most on this album, on how muddy the tracks where where as on Dead Heart and all the rest of their albums had bright and tight production. This is a band that always has alot going on during all of their songs and to have bad production is a "Deadly Sin" Fuck the 7 sins...this is the only one on this album. The music is by far some of the heaviest stuff i have ever heard and if you can get past the production job im sure most metal fans will like this album too. And yes it really is that bad and i had trouble getting past it at first. The songs really shine though, the first track i heard was Enemies of Reality which real got my head spinning. It's not what i expected that forsure, although when i heard Warrels outstand vocals i knew it was them. The fact of the matter is that there are alot more thrash elements found on this cd (especially in the drumming and guitar riffs). Not so much based on melodies for solos and riffs this time around, as it was. This is almost death metal music with a clean singer. I saw these guys live on their Dead Heart tour in 2001 and they blew my head off. Best live show i've ever and will ever attend, no lies. I nearly shit my pants at how intense that show was, they got the stage presence like no other band i have EVER witnessed. that aside there is some really good fucking songs on here and as previously mentioned the song Noumenon should and will be skipped seeing as it is kind of pointless to be on an album. This is one of the heaviest cds anyone can own and this album really shows how pissed off Nevermore really was due to the fact Century Media put a fucking bad ass budget on them seeing as it was their last album with them. They were pissed and determined to make an album that reflected in their moods. This ain't their best album, but this aint their worst either. They did very well, but they really need to throw a brick through Kelly Greys window. Nonetheless this is a very good Nevermore release, and I just hope next time they find someone who fucking knows what they are doing in the recording booth. Adios Cheers

Best Tracks: EOR, Ambivalent, Create the Infinate, Seed Awakening, Never Purify, Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday, I, Voyager

Overview - Well here's the second big production blunder of the year (I'm sure you know the other). Leave it to Century Media to skimp on the budget and get a B grade producer for one of their most popular bands. Jack asses. There's good songs to be found as the rating would indicate, but poor production hurt this album quite a bit. This is pretty shameful recording sound for an established band.

The Good News - The songs still rock and the band takes a step backwards to the aggression of The Politics. A lot of the tracks here are very thrashing and sound like Politics + Dead Heart distortion. Not a bad end result if you ask me. Stand outs include I, Voyager and Create The Infinite which are classic heavy yet melodic Nevermore and also another great Nevermore ballad crops up in the form of Tommorow Turned Into Yesterday. Who Decides has nice soft to heavy transitions.

The Bad News - This production sucks. I mean it's pretty damn awful. If it was any other band I don't think they would've been able to shine through these muddy waters. Bleck. On the songs aspect there is one that I am not particularly fond of and that is Nounmenon which is just freakin weird. Spacey and awkward, this track is best forgotten. Also the length of the cd is a bit lacking... clocking in at a disappointing 40 mins and change.