Nevermore’s frontman Warrel Dane must be bored with his own fellow band mates. Praises to the War Machine contains all the elements which makes the Seattle based metalband so great. Dramatic and dynamic sounding vocals, grooving kick ass metal riffs, pounding drums and intelligent philosophical lyrics. Normally solo efforts tread on different musical territories, but Dane just continues to perfectionize his style he is already known for. And the musicians performing on this are equally great to Nevermore.

 

Dane came up with the idea for Praises right around the time Nevermore was recording This Godless Endeavour. He started talking to Peter Wichers (ex-Soilwork) about doing something together. He states that he wanted to work with a songwriter that had a more song based approach rather than focus on technical skills. The album does appear to have a more song based approach, just listen to highlights like ‘Let You Down’ and ‘Brother’. It also shows just what a great singer Warrel Dane really is. He unleashes all of his emotions which just makes him one of the best singers in the metal genre.

 

Still, the album sounds a lot like Nevermore. In fact if I didn’t know any better I would say this is their new album. Just like their classic album Dead Heart in a Dead World, it contains a Simon & Garfunkel tune, namely ‘Patterns’. It is greatly covered, although I doubt Paul Simon fans like this teeth grinding metal version of the song. Great guest performances of Jeff Loomis and James Murphy just makes this a must have album for Nevermore fans. Hell, I think this is even better than the last two Nevermore albums! I’ll send my praise to this war machine. But I hope Dane isn’t bored with his main band just yet.