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Nevermore: The Politics Of Ecstasy (remaster)
In celebration of their 15th Anniversary, Century Media Records has re-issued several remastered editions of their best artists. These releases find enhanced artwork and liner notes as well as bonus and unreleased tracks. One of these releases would be Nevermore's The Politics Of Ecstasy. This second full Nevermore album would firmly show why this band was not to remain in the underground any longer and instead needed to be standing tall with the Heavy Metal superpowers of the day. Yet the music industry of 1996 (the albums original release year) was quite a chaotic one with attention still being paid to the "Seattle Sound" bands and groups like Marilyn Manson and Metallica holding strong onto the necks of the music buying public. Metallica would release Load the same year and I do not think I need to say more on this one, but suffice it to say it was stuff like this that kept groups like Nevermore from reaching more people based on all the attention being heaped on them. PoE is heavy in its Metal content as well as armed with a sharp-tongued political commentary on some tracks ("Seven Tongues Of God" and "Tiananmen Man"). There are also a couple of songs which have as fresh a sound today as when they were first released such as "Next In Line" and "The Sacrament" – Nevermore also proves they were able to tone it down with the effective "Passenger" (a crunching but slower-paced number that had a tremendous level of mood to it). The booklet provided includes expanded liner notes by Metal's master scribe Martin Popoff who together with singer Warrel Dane give some insight to this album on the whole.
This is an excellent album and stands as proof that Metal at many occasions can make one think about the world that surrounds them. The remastered edition includes one bonus track, a cover of Judas Priest's "Love Bites" and to be honest with you I could have done without this one since I am a purist when it comes to renditions of the legendary Brits. There is also a video of the "Next In Line" so this comes off as a must have for the Metal library even if you are someone new to this bands sound.
Track Listing
- The Seven Tongues Of God
- This Sacrament
- Next In Line
- Passenger
- The Politics Of Ecstasy
- Lost
- The Tiananmen Man
- Precognition (instrumental)
- 42147
- The Learning
- Love Bites – bonus
- Next In Line – bonus video
Added: September 20th 2006 Reviewer: Ken Pierce Score: Related Link: Nevermore Website Hits: 3563 Language: english
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Nevermore: The Politics Of Ecstasy (remaster) Posted by Pete Pardo, SoT Staff Writer on 2006-09-20 14:53:51 My Score:
1996 was the year that Seattle's Nevermore really started to get noticed in the metal world. The Politics of Ecstasy, their second album, is a snarling, pissed-off affair that sees the band hitting all sorts of different metal sub-genres, such as thrash, progressive metal, power metal, and death metal. It's these qualities that have made them hard to classify, even today, as their sound is a bit too melodic to fully qualify as extreme metal, but way too heavy for the melodic metal crowd. Regardless, this band has always delivered kick-ass, intelligent, and expertly played heavy metal, whatever the category might be. Their sophomore album, newly remastered and reissued by Century Media, is a relentless assault of powerhouse drumming, intricate & heavy guitar riffs, and Warrel Dane's superhuman vocals. One strong cut after another hits the listener, from the grueling thrash of the title track, to the raging "The Seven Tongues of God", the pummeling ferocity of "This Sacrament", and the complex riff-o-rama of "42147" and "Lost", complete with no shortage of wild guitar playing from Jeff Loomis and Pat O'Brien. Drummer Van Williams is all over this CD, sounding busier than ever and pounding the skins with brutal aggression, and Mr. Dane, well, he has one of the most unique voices in heavy music, and he really sings, rather than scream or growl.
The reissue comes with a great booklet with commentary from famed metal journalist Martin Popoff as well as singer Dane, and it's a great read. Plus, there are full lyrics, photographs, and magazine clippings, making this an all around great remaster for the Nevermore fan. Oh, and don't forget the bonus cut, a cover of Judas Priest's "Love Bites" , which also adds to the charm of this release.
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