Real Time Review: The Obsidian Conspiracy

Alriiight. I have in my player a copy of the new Nevermore cd "The Obsidian Conspiracy" and I'd be lying if I said this was not going to be on my list of most anticipated releases this year. I've seen the mixed reviews in the comments section of other sites but fuck those guys. If you can't analyze and enjoy each Nevermore release on it's own merits then move along. Anyways it's been a long time since I've done a real time review so what better candidate to dust it off with then this eh? Let's do it.

1. The Termination Proclamation: Oh yeah....thick rapid fire riffs with tons of double bass. This is the Nevermore I know.Warrel Dane sounds great here. He has awesome range but when he gets the aggressive tone in his vocals this is where the band shines. The chorus is a bit on the cheesy side but overall a great way to open a new cd.

2. Your Poison Throne: Interesting opening. Warrell wants us to Rise! Rise!Rise! Probably one of the more dare I say mainstream songs I've ever heard? It'll definately be memorable in their catalog. Actually bluesy solo by Loomis. See? He's not just a noodler.

3. Moonrise: Back to the Nevermore style of double bass and solo filled intros. So far this song could easily be on any of their previous work.Creepy spoken lyrics makes for a nice change of tempo and then picks right back up where we left off. Solid tune but I feel like overall I've heard this before.

4. And the Maiden Spoke: Slow heavy atmospheric opening and then kicks into overdrive. And I thought this was going to be a ballad type of song. Silly me. Second track in a row with some malevelant spoken words. The chorus is a bit lighter but then back to the main riff.This is what Queensryche would have written if they were a much heavier band I think. Oooo brief happy interlude before the solo. Damn Loomis can shred. Clean and such precision. Very progressive tune overall.

5. Emptiness Obstructed: Warrel Dane starts this out from the gates with no intro and possibly the chorus. Oh so this is the more ballady type song. Such great lyrics. Both the shredding and songwriting is becoming a lost art as these guys constantly remind me. Awesome track.

6. The Blue Marble and the New Soul: Some of these song titles makes me think I'm reading Grimm's fairy tales. Sorry, random thought. Very mild intro with whispering. Even slower song then the previous. Why do I get the feeling my ass is about to get kicked? Very slow build up as Warrel gets more aggressive with his vocals. Kind of like an Shakespearean play. More whispering and blues based guitar work. Sheesh the dread of incoming facemelting is starting to get palpable. Minute left so yeah not going to happen, I can relax. Another outside of the norm track. I'll have to listen again to get a good idea if I like it or not.

7. Without Morals: Groove riffage and back to being heavy. Song seems to be about somebody Warrel hates using the most intelligent words to insult. Like if Godsmack had any sort of songwriting ability. Probably the least impressive track so far though.

8. The Day You Built the Wall: Mid tempo opening. " I am the Black Lord, I am a slave" in a very evil tone. Song has a heavy Judas Priest influence from probably Defenders of the Faith. Just updated with heavier vocals.

9. She Comes in Colors: What a naughty sounding name. Very mild opener. Very soulful solo. Seems Jeff is trying to expand his range on the guitar. Whoa dead air for a few seconds and now some harmonics. Oh...it's not a ballad. Killer groove riff. So now the song is being repeated but with a much heavier background.Black Sabbath used to do this kind of thing with Dio as singer. Start out really soft then kick in with a heavy groove riff. And now we go out soft again. And back to the heavy chorus again. I love songs with drastic tempo changes.

10. The Obsidian Conspiracy: Title track and it's fast as shit. Time to just rip a tune out eh? Much like the first track this no doubt a Nevermore track. Not catchy just fast and brutal with heavy bass and double bass drums.

11. Temptation : This is the special edition so the next songs are covers. Hold on a sec...let me listen to the originals on Youtube so I can make a fair assessment of these. Apparently this is by some group called the Tea Party. Oh I remember this tune. Pretty recent actually. Very electronic. Ok let's see what th Nevermore version sounds like. Loomis starts out acoustic and almost spanish guitar like. Oh fuck yeah....I like the intro by Nevermore much better. Very heavy. Much like on Warrel's solo album he's taken a song that was kind of heavy in it's own right and enhanced it with some ballsy music. Yeah I like this much better then the original.

12.Crystal Ship: Doors cover. Just listened to the original. Very meh song. Let's see what Nevermore does with it. Warrel can truly sing it's evident. I don't like the song though. Very soft and slow. This would have served to be on a solo project I think.

Well that's it. Wow, such a great band. I have so many impressions to go over. It stands on it's own from previous releases, no doubt. The songs are much shorter then I expected which could be a good or bad thing depending on your attention span. Anybody that says this isn't a progression for them is an idiot. It's not as techical as previous releases but other genres of music are present here and that's progression in my book. It's without a doubt the most accessible album to date.

The actually sales will tell how well this album reaches people and I really hope it does breakthrough but after a 5 year layoff will it have enough to bring in new fans and still keep the old? We shall see but in the meantime I do recommend that people buy this album and support intelligent metal.

Here is a sample of what I'm blabbering about.


And here is more information about Nevermore.