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Review: Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World Tour
Nevermore
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Dead Heart In A Dead World Tour
Venue: 4th Street Station & The Lab
City: St.Paul, MN, USA

Show date: April 24, 2001
Guests: Opeth, Angel Dust, God Forbid

Rating: None/5

Review online: April 27, 2001
Reviewed by: Christian Renner
Readers Rating
for:
Dead Heart In A Dead World Tour

Rated 5/5 (100%) (5 Votes)
Review

I was really looking forward to this show and even though I had to drive 4+ hours to get there it was absolutely worth the time and expense of a long road trip. A bonus to me was the fact it was held in a small club with only about 250 people present, which gave easy access to the bands. The sound at times left something to be desired. Some of the lead guitar work was hard to hear at times. They did have the sound problems worked out by Nevermore's second or third song and you could finally hear Jeff Loomis clearly.

The show started with God Forbid an American thrash metal band from New Jersey. I had never heard this band before the show but I was pleasantly surprised. They really got things started out right with some kick as moshing style songs in the old Sepeltura style of thrash. They finished their set with a Sepultura cover that you would have sworn was playing through a stereo. My only complaint was the set was to short and the sound problems I mentioned earlier. Don't be late to the show if you are seeing this show in future dates as you will definitely miss a kick ass band.

Next up was Angel Dust and although I personally like the band they just didn't seem to fit in this show. They are a lot mellower than God Forbid and after the frantic pace set by them it was hard for Angel Dust to keep it going. I am not saying they played badly. They just didn't fit the overall vibe of the evening. I could have actually done without seeing them but I guess that could also be due to the fact that I couldn't wait to see Opeth.

Finally the moment that I was waiting for had finally arrived and Michael Akerfeldt and Opeth finally hit the stage. I was kind of worried about this in a way because I was wondering how they were going to pull off the complexity of their music without losing the emotion behind it. I had absolutely nothing to worry about as they just absolutely fucking blew me away. I have been trying to play guitar for about a year and after seeing Michael (and later Jeff Loomis) I felt like just going home and throwing my guitar in the trash. He just makes it look so fucking easy it pisses me off dammit! Another highlight for me was the unreal drumming of Martin Lopez. If you are a Opeth fan and know something of the drums you know how hard it is to play this stuff live. It is not only complex technically speaking but when Opeth switches back and forth between the clean passages and distortion it has to be hell on a drummer not to overpower the clean sections and not to come in to the distorted sections to lightly. Martin played perfectly and it really amazed me at his talent. Another great thing about this band is how unassuming they all are. Talking to the band after their set was over I told Martin that that was some of the best work I had seen live since Dave Lomabardo and after looking at me like I was insane just told me that those were awfully high praises as Dave is a drum god and one of his personal favorites. I just wish I had been able to sit down with the entire band for an interview. The only complaint again was it was hard hearing Peter's guitar and the set was way to short for my tastes. Of course considering the length of their songs, the fact that they put at the very least one song off of each of their albums in the set list was very cool.

The evening was brought to a close by Nevermore. They ended the night perfectly. Making an already great night just that much better. The sound problem with the lead guitar was fixed by the second or third song and Jeff Loomis's shredding guitar came slamming through and just amazed everyone there. Songs from Dead Heart mainly dominated the set but they did vary it up a bit with songs from Politics and Dreaming as well. The highlight for me (outside of Jeff's incredible guitar work) was Warrel Dane. He sounded great and his interaction with the fans was cool as hell. Throughout the show he was pulling people on the tiny ass little stage with him to headbang and even stagediving himself on numerous occasions. The best part though was at the end when he climbed on one of the speakers on the side of the stage and jumped to the floor and joined the pit while singing the entire last song. The only complaint I had of their set was how quickly they disappeared after the end of the set. While other members of the band sat and talked with fans Warrel and Jeff were nowhere to be found. I hope that this was just an anomaly and not what they do every show.

I was kind of disappointed not to be able to talk to them after the show but then again I had a 4-hr drive ahead of me and it was already 1:30 am. Although I arrived at work with only minutes to spare and had to work a twelve hour shift on no sleep in a full 24hr's I still had a big smile on my face and thought it was well worth the agony.


More about Nevermore...
Review: Dead Heart In A Dead World (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: Dreaming Neon Black (reviewed by Adam McAuley)
Review: The Obsidian Conspiracy (reviewed by Lior "Steinmetal" Stein)
Review: This Godless Endeavor (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: This Godless Endeavor (reviewed by ShadowsFall)
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