Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy - review
Nevermore - The Obsidian Conspiracy - review
Tracklist
01. The Termination Proclamation02. Your Poison Throne
03. Moonrise (Through Mirrors Of Death)
04. And The Maiden Spoke
05. Emptiness Unobstructed
06. The Blue Marble And The New Soul
07. Without Morals
08. The Day You Built The Wall
09. She Comes In Colors
10. The Obsidian Conspiracy
11. Crystal Ship [The Doors cover]
12. Temptation [The Tea Party cover]
A review by
Daniell August 15, 2010
If I were to try to categorise Nevermore's music, I'd be stumped. It's thrash, all right, but it's seriously progressive as well, with tons of impressive technicality to boot, and even, excuse the blasphemy, traces or infectiously catchy power metal in some choruses. Whatever the genre, Nevermore are a very mature ensemble of skilled musicians, who know how to discipline themselves in order to make songs that are at the same time epic and concise. Not a single song lasts over 6 minutes, yet their grandeur is sometimes breathtaking. Check "Moonrise (Through Mirrors Of Death)" to see what I mean. The riffs in verses build up a wall of energy, reinforced by thundering bass drums, only to be flattened and obliterated by the wonderful chorus that rests on very melodic guitars and fat, groovy drumming. If this isn't brilliant, I don't know what fucking is. Moving on to "And the Maiden Spoke" - the drumming is complex and so unconventional, that you can forget about tapping your foot to the rhythm. You'll be too busy admiring Warrel Dane's singing anyway. From high-pitched to low, almost grunted, that's Nevermore's most prized possession at his best. Dane proves again that he is among the best metal singers out there.
I won't go through every song in detail, because this review would be longer than a roll of toilet paper that you use up when you have the shits. So I'll limit myself to naming just a handful more. "The Blue Marble and the New Soul" is a very stylish ballad embellished by a very emotional solo - a perfect breather in the middle of this feast of riffing and technicality. "The Day You Built the Wall" has layered vocals and heavy, ominous atmosphere - it's almost theatrical. But the best is saved for the last. I daresay that "She Comes in Colors" and "The Obsidian Conspiracy" are Nevermore's best tracks ever. The former is slow, atmospheric and sinister, the latter is a hurricane of riffing, solos and masterful drumming. And when you start thinking that it can't possibly get better, wonderful chorus proves you wrong.
I've no idea why Nevermore needed 5 years to release this brilliant album, but I sure as hell hope they won't have me waiting another 5 for their next. This is easily a top 5 album for this year, and something tells me that it'll remain very high till the end of December. I mentioned the number five three times in this paragraph. Three times 5 is 15. Minus 5 for a long wait, and you get a 10, no more no less. Very few deserve it this year.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 10 |
| Songwriting: | 10 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 9 |
Rating:
5.2
5.2
|
Rating:
5.2 |
What do a five year wait, a couple solo albums, trying to live up to a masterpiece, conflicting artistic direction, and totally mangling a sound that needed little improvement all have in common? They're all reasons why Nevermore's last release before deteriorating as a band, The Obsidian Conspiracy, underwhelms. Severely. In 2010, five years after the raw and hate-fueled masterpiece This Godless Endeavor was unleashed upon our unprepared society, Nevermore released this nonsensical escapade, and I could hardly believe I was listening to the same band; and no, as you might have already guessed, I don't mean that in a positive way. Read more ›› |
Comments page 3 / 3
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Posts: 6675 Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 11.01.2011 at 02:21 Ah...  Now I see what you did there...  
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EMOTES! *heart failure*
---- Licensed under the GPLv3. Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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Am I the only one here who thinks that their best album is Dreaming Neon Black? (And by quite a margin I would say  )
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Posts: 5989 Written by Kuroboshi on 09.02.2011 at 14:24 Dead Heart In a Dead World is my favorite. But I feel like I'm one of the few who didn't really appreciate The Obsidian Conspiracy. It's good, but at times the tracks sound like they blend together... a lot of the album sounds the same. I don't know, maybe I just haven't fully absorbed it yet.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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This thing of bringing past albums to the table is really annoying me, I mean, are we going to compare every Opeth album to BWP? or every DT album to Images and Words? cmon dudes! Prog is not repeating the same thing over again. Everybody talked shit about Rhapsody Of Fire because they have made the same music all over again and now you criticize prog bands for doing what you requested?... FUCK!
---- Metal is flowing through my veins...
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This album is very bad. It's really no wonder that Jeff Loomis left, really.
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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Yea I really didn't care for this album either. It's just boring to me, I tried a few times to listen to it and get into it but I just kept going back to either Dead Heart In A Dead World (imo their best album) or This Godless Endeavor. I actually wish that Jeff and Van had left before writing this so that their last album with Nevermore would be an amazing classic rather than (imo) a complete dud.
---- ~Zep, Former Database and Forum Moderation~ 
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