Review by Rexorcist for Nevermore - The Politics of Ecstasy (1996)

Nevermore are known for having a diverse range which can potentially attract a lot of different metal fans: heavy, prog, thrash, power, speed, etc.  Basically, they've made for themselves a style which stays honorable to a large sect of the metal world.  But does this mean that they always write the best songs for any one of these genres?  They're considered an essential band in 90's and 2000's metal, so let's see where this takes me.

Nevermore's "The Politics of Ecstacy" sees them expanding on the style they created with their self-titled debut, but with a stronger progressive edge.  This is one of those challenging albums where predictability of the structures and riffs themselves is largely absent.  Thanks to this and their very metallic sound, they live up to the multiple areas they've included in their personal style at the time, which often relies on all of the major components playing at the same time.  Coupled with the singer's strong and loud vocals, this is a very energetic album, even during the slower compositions.  The rest of the components pairing with prog also makes this a very accessible prog album, which isn't necessarily bad.  However, while these songs are all cool and easy to get behind, the actual riffs aren't the most imaginative.  We have fun rhythms throughout the whole album, but not a single one of them amazed me, and I didn't give any five stars to any of the tracks.

This is an easy band to enjoy thanks to their range and power, but they aren't the most amazing group of writers out there, or at least they weren't at the time of this album's release.  The strong points, however, greatly outweigh the album's weakness, so I would easily find myself recommending this band to anyone looking to get into more metal, especially if you're already a Dream Theater fan.