NEVERMORE’s brand of “heavy” has always been (in my mind) difficult to categorise. It’s like if you took Power Metal & removed all the cheesy, cheerful crap that makes the genre so tiresome, upped the guitars to almost “melodic death metal” heaviness, and mixed in some dark, foreboding lyrical content about the futility of existence, death & religion – and whatever else you can find in the deep, dark recesses of the human psyche. A sort of “Dark Power Metal” if you will. Merely calling it “heavy metal” probably doesn’t do the band justice, but I don’t want to go inventing more silly genres to pigeonhole bands into - so we’ll stick with that for the time being.

By this time you’ve probably read several reviews telling you that “This Godless Endeavour” is a true audio delight. This is not some cynical magazine group-effort to launch NEVERMORE into the mainstream limelight. Neither is it the latest bandwagon – this album is without doubt totally and utterly incredible.

Perhaps the slight disappointment of the last album “Enemies of Reality” kick-started the band into the creative maelstrom that has brought us this wonderful new album. Perhaps the added creativity of their newly joined 2nd guitarist brought something new to the mix. I won’t pretend to know why – all YOU need to know is this album is an absolute masterpiece from beginning to end, full of some of the best guitar work, soaring choruses, dark lyrics and crushing riffs you are likely to hear in a very long while.

From the opening chords of “Born” - to the crushing, epic, self titled album closer “This Godless Endeavour” (perhaps the best track they have ever written?) your jaw will be in a position very much adjacent to the floor. Even ballads – such as “Sell My Heart For Stones” – have an epic and darkly brilliant intensity to them, rather than just being the obligatory “slow songs”. Dane Warrell’s vocals may take a while to warm to for the first time listener, but that would be my only warning to anyone wishing to check this out.

“Doomsday Machine” you say? Oh please - leave that generic piece of paint-by-numbers metal on the shelf. Do yourself a favour and pick this up instead. An epic, heavy and dark journey into the futility of a modern “Godless” society. Album of the Year? Quite possibly. Album of their career so far? Almost definitely. Only trouble is, when you raise the bar clean out of sight, where do you go next? Brilliant none-the-less.

Standout Tracks:  This Godless Endeavour, Born, Sell My Heart for Stones.

Overall Score:   9.5 /10