Guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams are teasing the return of their longtime band NEVERMORE.
Earlier immediately (Friday, December 27),Loomis and Williams each shared a one-minute video teaser containing numerous NEVERMORE-related imagery and what seem like the silhouettes of Loomis and Williams together with the textual content “Resurrecting The Dream”. The teaser ends with the NEVERMORE emblem together with the road “A New Chapter Rises” and the 12 months “2025”.
NEVERMORE successfully break up up in 2011 when Loomis and Williams introduced their departure from the band resulting from private variations with singer Warrel Dane and bassist Jim Sheppard. Warrel later described NEVERMORE in an interview as “the best band that alcohol ever ruined.”
Dane died in December 2017 in São Paulo, Brazil on the age of 56 whereas recording his posthumously launched solo studio album, “Shadow Work”. The musician reportedly had a coronary heart assault in the course of the evening and couldn’t be revived.
In response to guitarist Johnny Moraes, who performed in Warrel‘s solo band, Dane had a historical past of dependancy and different well being points. “His well being was already very weak due to his diabetes and his issues with alcoholism,” he mentioned.
The instrumental components for Dane‘s follow-up to 2008’s “Praises To The Struggle Machine” solo album have been virtually accomplished and he had begun laying down his vocals shortly earlier than his demise.
In a 2019 interview with Metallic Grasp Kingdom, Loomis was requested if there have been any plans to resurrect NEVERMORE with out Dane. Jeff responded: “It is a kind of issues the place I believe NEVERMORE had such a particular sound and it was merely due to all of the musicians that have been in that on the time. Van, me, Warrel, Jim. We had quite a few totally different guitarists within the band all through the years. We had Chris Broderick, we had Tim Calvert, who sadly handed away. Quite a lot of good gamers. Steve Smyth, Curran Murphy. All these guys have been part of NEVERMORE previously. Truthfully, in my imaginative and prescient, it is vital that you just transfer on in your life. I actually want to keep in mind the spirit and the perspective that we had as a band with the music and simply transfer on from there. As a result of with out Warrel, it is simply not possible, in my thoughts. [He is] sadly missed. He was considered one of my finest pals. Issues like that occur and it is a very unhappy scenario. It actually was. However we now have the music to recollect all of it by.”
In 2018 interview with France’s Loud TV, Loomis acknowledged about Dane‘s passing: “It is a unhappy scenario with considered one of my finest pals that I grew up being in a band with. [He was] among the finest lyricists in steel, I consider, that was ever on the market — a wonderful particular person. He was a troubled particular person too on the similar time; he had some points. We had many nice instances collectively previously, and we had many unhealthy instances, however I might say that the great instances outweighed the unhealthy. And ultimately, we have been speaking nonetheless as pals, and we talked ultimately earlier than he handed away. We have been on good phrases. It is a very unhappy loss to the music group and he’ll be properly remembered as one of many nice vocalists of a steel period.”
Loomis added that Warrel had been “battling consuming and issues like this” for years earlier than he died. “I am not moving into an excessive amount of element there,” he mentioned. “He had some troubles. I am gonna miss him lots. He was an ideal good friend of mine and he was an exquisite human being.”
Requested if there was any discuss of a NEVERMORE reunion earlier than Warrel handed away, Jeff mentioned: “I believe that after you do one thing for such a very long time and also you make your mark within the music world, typically issues do have to return to an finish. And, sadly, with my scenario with NEVERMORE, after 18 years of being within the band, it marked type of an finish of an space. And for me personally, it was type of transferring on to a different chapter in my life. There was talks, like possibly [in late 2016] about possibly doing a reunion present, nevertheless it by no means occurred, after all. Clearly, now it isn’t going to occur.”
Loomis “amicably” left ARCH ENEMY in December 2023 and was changed by Joey Concepcion.
Jeff, who was the primary songwriter in NEVERMORE, joined ARCH ENEMY in late 2014, however was not concerned within the writing for the latter act’s final two albums, 2017’s “Will To Energy” and 2022’s “Deceivers”.
