Style: United States power metal, extreme groove metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Personal freedom, religion, power
Thoughts: Warrel Dane has a conflicted past with me. Some of the early Nevermore output is among my favorite music of the 90's. Yet, some of the later Nevermore albums I dislike so much that I swore the band off completely. Immature? Probably, but I disliked Enemies of Reality that much.
A few years and a couple unremarkable records later they disband and the members go their separate ways. Mr. Dane released another unremarkable album and I pretty much gave up on hearing anything from him that I would enjoy again.
All this extraneous information is to put into context how surprised I was with Shadow Work. Not only does the album surpass any expectations I had (which were zero), it brought me back to a point where I wanted to hear more material from Nevermore in the vein of this album.
Shadow Work is vicious, it is venomous, it is violent, it is phenomenal. All of the spite and hate that Warrel had on Politics of Ecstasy is back, be it a bit more mature. The music also matches the potent vocals with equally powerful riffs and structures.
Disconnection System is one of the better examples of how potent and diverse the album can be. The main riff is a dissonant mess that works with the off key vocals. The rhythm section batters the listener down with pummeling start/stop riffs to accompany the dissonant lead. After a couple of minutes of the onslaught the band shifts gears, slows down and graces the listener with a sweeping melodic section. The conflict between the two sides of the song continue until its very end as it fades out into a dark ambient mess that would fit easily into a horror movie.
The rest of the album has a delicate balance between heaviness, dissonance, and melody. This is how I like my power metal... if this is even power metal. Be it a blast beat driven 7 string riff like the intro to Madame Satan, or a powerful swell of melody such as the chorus of As Fast as the Others. The cover of The Cure's The Hanging Garden is one of the best cover's I've ever heard. Everything on the album is above average to damn near perfect. It's a true shame that this will be the last that we will ever hear from this prolific vocalist. Rest in Power.
Written September 4th 2023
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