The Obsidian Conspiracy

[Jacksons Shred]

I'm Bill Z Bub...Cherish the typo's! That's great man, I cracked up....I also cherish each and every single one of them .

Anyways, you really did put everything into perspective. A return of Tim Calvert would have been so awesome but I can whole heartedly understand why he didn't want back in.. Their new guitarist will definitely develope into something beyond comprehension if he plays his cards right.

The more and more I listen to this album and just let it marinate, the more I am falling in love with it. When I first got it I was ancy to write a review, but after numerous listens it just keeps getting better and better. I think the biggest thing for me was that this record is very very diverse. It's a bit more mainstream, and the song writting has improved tenfold. You can tell the leads were not Loomis's #1 priority. There are some great moments and shreddy parts, but you can really tell he buckled his ass down to focus on the songs development. This may sound odd, and a bit of a oxymoron, but this album sounds a lot like Warrel Dane's solo album if Jeff was playing guitar on everything.. That's sort of hard to comprehend, and if you can look pass how stupid that may sound on paper, you will definietely agree.

There are some phrases that Jeff took straight off his solo album, but it's his art and he can do whatever he wants! There is a song that is very reminiscent to Born. You'll hear it within a matter of seconds. Nevermore is hungry for the fame, success, and top knotch musicianship. I think this may be their year for that.

This album is a must own. Hands down one of the greatest albums of the past 2 decades. Purchase it on sight without hesitation.

Cherish the shitty grammar!

[ZZB]

Received my copy of the limited edition box today. The record will be my main event this weekend - some beer, the stereo and the Obsidian Conspiracy. Nevermore are the only band whose new albums get me excited these days.

[Top Jimmy B]

My sister preordered this album for me(with a tshirt, i think) and we're expecting it anyday. To say I can't wait is an understatement. Thanks for the hype guys.

[Hellbat]

The Blue Marble and the New Soul... Just a tasty, tasty solo

This album on the whole is pretty accessible I think. Maybe their most accessible one yet. Yet it's still awesomely heavy too. Production is awesome. Loomis; tone is the best it's ever been. The Engl's and Axe-FX are working for him. Hopefully they can pull off the vocal harmonies live in some way.

My only criticism is that I bought the digipak version and it has the cover of Temptation on it and it's a bang on cover, but I hate the original song, so I can't like the cover....

I'm no longer a closet fanboi. That's right! I'm out of the closet!

NEVERMOOAAAAR!

[horns666]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh...fuck my ass!

Listened to it about a dozen times now. There's alot to absorb. By far the best production of any NM release. Also by far the best tone Jeff ever had. Wow, I think he's using his Engl on this. Man, I aim for a Nevermor-ish tone with my Bogner, but it's just so fuggin' THICK, and dark sounding no matter what. I love it..but it sounds more like Arch Enemy. Engl's seem to be consistantly edgier, and chirpy for squeals and shit, that sound perfect for 7 string. They don't "heavy" as the Uber..but what really does.
I know Jeff likes to slam various amps with a stomp like a maxon 808 and ect..I may try that. That'll prolly give me some bass roll-off and more edge..I'm thinkin'.:think:

OK, I'm goin' back for another listen..with the wife. Wer're drinking White Russians....

Bill Z Bub abides!

BTW I'm pissed! The ONLY fuggin' copy I found was the cheap pressing without the Tea Part cover and the other bonus shit. So, I'm missing all that. The Tea Party is one of my favorite non-metal bands. Ironically I saw them on VH-I back in '97, when music radio and TV really sucked the wazoo for rock/metal..it was just non-exist. So when I saw the Tea Part live in front of a few college kids ..it really caught my attention. They're like a mix of Zep and the Doors with a tinge of techno..pretty dark stuff . My favorite song is Tempatation (wished NM did that one)..which has a cool riff goin'. Then I like "Drawing down the Moon" from their earler realease "The edges of twilight".

[horns666]

Oh...suck on my typos!!

I'm Bill Z Bub

[Hellbat]

Here you go Bill

I don't think they made it their own, it's kind of a bang on cover. Like I said, I never liked the original though. The singer really was trying to pull the "I channel Jim Morrison" a little too hard for me, plus the fact that they were a Canadian band means we had them jammed down our throat on radio/video to the point of overkill.

[VitaminG]

Bill, Temptation is the Tea Party song that they cover. Sounds real good too. Not my favourite TP song, but they do a great job of it.

The other cover is the Doors' Crystal Ship.

[Top Jimmy B]

Still waiting for my copy to arrive...I can't wait to hear it.

[kmanick]

my copy came on thursday.
Aamzing drum and guitar tone, fuck , sneap knows how to make drums sound better than anyone I've heard yet.
this is probably my first favorite so far, (Jeff is kind of re hashing some guitar lines from his solod Cd at the opening here but it works)
I can see this one being a complete head banger live
BillZ how are you man, long time no talky

this is my second fav so far. nice strong chorus

[6string40]

Finally, finally, FINALLY!!!! got my copy yesterday. I went to every store in my area and no one had it. One store got one copy in Tuesday and it was gone before I got there. Stores around here blow when it comes to smaller label music...if it's not Top 40 garbage, they don't carry it.

Honestly haven't gotten a whole lot of listening time just yet, but so far, so good.

[Endrik]

I just listened to the album (my friend's CD without the bonus tracks) and have very mixed feelings.

Based on the first half I thought it's crap. The first tunes don't sound anything new and interesting. The "metal" tunes on the album are the weakest and lack cool riffs. But right now I'm not in the mood for metal so I'm pretty critical. Sounded pretty messy with some decent passages here and there but....

... the production is really flawed. The contrast between more laid back passages and heavier passages on the "metal" tunes are lame. No dynamics. No colours. Everything is over compressed, every part has the same volume level. The whole album has this annoying monotonous tonality, specially on the heavy distorted guitar parts.

On "Emptiness Unobstructed" is the first tune with more contrasts but the contrasts don't fit together. Clean passages jumping into the same monotone sounding brick wall crap. Production wise this tune is approached the same way as the previous "metal" tunes which is stupid as it's fundamentally totally different and needs specific approach to make it sound good.

The good thing is that this album has more "room" and "space" than the previous albums which makes the heavier tunes sound better (too bad the heavier tunes are boring and monotonous) but on the non-metal songs there should be more "room" and "space".

The best tunes are strongly Queensryche and classic progressive rock influenced. People always talk about Loomis but it's really the whole band which makes it sound good. I though Loomis' solo album was really boring. In Nevermore his chord voicings, passages and songs in general are a lot stronger.

"The Blue Marble And The New Soul" and "The Day You Built The Wall" are really good and beautiful songs. But they could be even better, more space and more room, more panoramic and bigger mix. But the contrasts in "The Day You Built The Wall" works a lot better than the stuff on the first half of the album. Now that I'm listening to "Crystal Ship" (The Doors cover) on youtube and it has more of that "space" that I'm talking about.

"She Comes In Colors" has the best metal riff on the album. Funny, I like Loomis because of his riffs but his solos don't sound that special to me. This albums is different, the riffing part wasn't that strong but the laid back passages were great. And I like his soloing here more than on any other album. More rock'n'roll. This time he plays with more attitude, uses more nuances and whatnot. More 80's hard rock vibe than neo-classical bore-fest.

Warrel uses some pretty cool and different voices on the album and Van is always nice to listen to, not afraid to use different patters unlike 99% of metal drummers with their boring single stroke feel crap.

[Hellbat]

It's funny that you mentioned the Queensryche thing because the album reminds me a lot of Rage for Order, which is my favorite Queensryche album. The one thing I've noticed with Nevermore and I think we are seeing it with this album is their songs seem to get better after they have had a chance to polish them live. I have a feeling with all the solo album stuff going on before this one came out that they were stretched a little thinner and the songs didn't get all the attention and polish they deserve. I think what they really need is a permanent 2nd guitarist that brings in some different songwriting skills into the band.

Even so though it's still a pleasure to listen to the album for me, the musicianship of all the members (voice is an instrument too) is pretty top notch in this band and different songs hit the right tone for different people. For me the most amazing moment of the album is the solo in "The Blue Marble and the New Soul". And it's just because Loomis went into David Gilmour kind of territory on the solo.

[Endrik]

Yeah, Nevermore always has that Queensryche vibe going on which is awesome.
One of the biggest mistakes was that instead of hiring a real producer they hired the guitarist from Soilwork. Swedish melo-death guys are legendary for making dull over-produced turds.

[6string40]

One of the biggest mistakes was that instead of hiring a real producer they hired the guitarist from Soilwork. Swedish melo-death guys are legendary for making dull over-produced turds.

Just as the music itself, production too is a matter of personal taste/opinion. I thought Peter did a great job with Warrel's solo album and I think this one sounds great as well. Whether it's over-produced or not, I think most metal producers suck and the albums sound like shit b/c they're far too under-produced. Don't get me wrong, I prefer a raw sound more than anything, but a lot of metal albums sound like ass. Metal is so much better live and meant to be heard live anyway, so I don't get too terribly critical of the recordings.