NEVERMORE NEVER BORE RABID NYC AUDIENCE

This morning I walked by the Axl Annex of the Mansion to the smell of piss, shit and vomit emanating from his quarters. My knock on the door was returned by a grunt, which is at least improved from last night when Axl was so sick he couldn’t even stay out to catch Nevermore completely own New York’s Gramercy Theater. You know the guy’s gotta be in bad condition if he’s skipping Nevermore; I know he’d been looking forward to that show for a while. And it’s really too bad, because Nevermore were absolutely phenomenal.

Nevermore are one of those bands that are super fun to watch; they just absolutely own and commandeer the stage the instant they step on it, and each of the five guys is always doing something entertaining, engaging the crowd or just furiously headbanging. They’re just one of those band’s that instantly strikes you as pro, you know what I mean? Too many bands these days don’t bring a full-on show; Nevermore do. As could be expected, they’re monsterously heavy and monolithically tight. Warrel Dane is as entertaining a metal frontman as any. And Jeff Loomis is basically what God would sound like if he played guitar; wow, that’s all I got. The show was also just endlessly fun, and that’s the word I keep coming back to. Actually, I kinda wish I was watching Nevermore play right now instead of typing up this pseudo-review.

While we wait for footage from last night’s show to pop up on YouTube (hey you… you know who to email), how’s about some footage from Loomis’ new shred instructional video Extreme Lead Guitar, recently put out by Rock House Method?

Make sure you don’t miss Nevermore on the few remaining dates of their tour (including “Create Your Own Conspiracy” contest winner Ben Robson’s appearance at the Oct 25 Pittsburgh stop!); get dates here.

-VN