today i want to write about nevermore, a seattle-based metal band. while collecting the songs i want to present here, i read that two members left the band a couple of weeks ago, which seems to me as essentially the death of the band. which is bad, since i really like their music.

nevermore combines several different metal styles, like progressive metal, power metal (there is a dispute about this, though), thrash metal, into a melodic stream of music. the lyrics are often centered around political/social topics.

let me begin in the past, with their 1996 ep in memory. the opener of that album is a song called optimist or pessimist.

the optimist understands why the world’s gone down the drain
the pessimist never bends, constricting thoughts in vain
from the pessimist’s point of view there’s nothing we can do
as i paint this picture gray and taste the pain
i’ll play the optimist

the second song, the tiananmen man, is about a man depicted in a famous photo taken during the tiananmen square protests of 1989. (you can see the photo here.) this song is from the the politics of ecstasy album, which also features the song next in line.

the third song is from the concept album dreaming neon black. it tells the story of a man, slowly loosing sanity, who lost a close to some cult. an incredibly emotional song, and so dark. the following song is the title song of the album; in my opinion, this is one of the best songs of nevermore.

sometimes i wonder where you are, can you feel my tears?
i never knew what changed you
did they paint your dreams in pale shades?
i wait for you, you know you cannot hide
division from within invalidates suffering
 
meet me in the dreamtime water, drown
shifting shaping currents flow in memory
(swim through me)
meet me in the drowning pool of tears
and wash away my innocence

released one year after the dreaming neon black album, dead heart in a dead world is another excellent album from nevermore. featuring many great songs, i decided to present you we disintegrate.

i want to present two songs from the enemies of reality album. first, there’s the title song, enemies of reality.

the second song is noumenon, which is rather special. it’s psychedelic, very slow, and dark.

the final song i want to present is from their latest album, the obsidian conspiracy. again, this is the title song. it is fast and heavy.