Review Summary: Entering the new millennium with all guns blazing
After exploring the various facets of their sound through the nineties, Nevermore entered the new millennium with all guns blazing. Dead Heart in a Dead World is decidedly more consolidated than their previous outings, streamlining its song structures as the musicians perform with in your face flair. The band hasn’t watered down their sound enough to make this album feel like an earnest attempt to cross into mainstream metal circa 2000, but the accessible presentation does make it feel like the band’s equivalent to Queensryche’s Empire or even The Black Album.
Andy Sneap’s production is a huge game changer, giving so much more oomph to the band’s established prowess and making them sound so much fuller. Jeff Loomis especially benefits from this; the often muffled tone on albums past is given a hearty boost further bolstered by a move to seven-string guitars, making the rhythms even more crushing and the solos that much more eye-popping. Even if Dane can still be an acquired taste, a greater emphasis on layers and more linear melodies give his voice even more weight and makes the songs damn fun to sing along to.
The songwriting does a lot to reconcile the last couple albums’ push and pull dynamics, resulting in a near equal ratio of metal blasts and ballads. The opening “Narcosynthesis” and “We Disintegrate” are an immediate one-two punch, both tracks weaving through a set of busy chugs and smoother tempo shifts topped off by incredibly infectious choruses. I also love the grinding War on Drugs takedown of “Inside Four Walls,” the driving “Engines of Hate,” and the cinematic closing title track.
This side of the album is best expressed on its centerpiece, “The River Dragon Has Come.” The song’s structure is about as straightforward as the others between its chugging verses, soaring pre-choruses, and stomping choruses, but its epic scope gives it so much impact. The song’s theme of a catastrophic dam collapse is perfectly conveyed through the beginning clean guitar giving way to a bursting rhythm, the twin soloing backed by a hefty breakdown sees Loomis at his absolute peak, and the screams during the final chorus make the whole thing sound like the goddamned apocalypse. Many will declare this the best Nevermore song and I’m not inclined to disagree.
The album’s ballads also do well to make the Dreaming Neon Black-style brooding easier to swallow. Whether or not “Believe in Nothing” was a conscious bid for radio play, it has come to be a powerful staple courtesy of its beautiful acoustic verses and lamenting vocals. The more ominous bent on “Evolution 169” also comes out strong and “The Heart Collector” has an effective meta touch.
With so much going on, the real curveball ends up being the pseudo-cover of “The Sound of Silence.” Rather than being a mirror of Disturbed’s infamous take fifteen years early, the track is like something from the Zeppelin playbook as it merely sets Paul Simon’s iconic lyrics to a wholly original composition. It’s an odd choice but makes for some interesting contrasts as the familiar lyrics can feel like clutching at straws while the blistering riffs hint at the more extreme approaches to come.
Dead Heart in a Dead World may be a track or two shy of perfection, but it ushers in Nevermore’s second phase with ecstatic fervor. It is a stunning display of what makes Nevermore such a unique band as the songwriting and musicianship’s thrilling synergy results in some of their most iconic moments. While there may be an album or two that could match its quality depending on a listener’s personal preferences, this is undeniably the most ideal starting point for anybody wanting to check them out.
