In Memory

Sporting some of singer Warrel Dane's most extreme vocal workouts, In Memory is an impressive musical display of neo-progressive yet heavy melodic metal. With an identical band lineup and producer Neil Kernon returning to helm the console, the results on this follow-up to 1995's eponymous debut are predictably similar. The bombastic medley of Bauhaus cuts, "Silent Hedges/Double Dares," is representative of the continuing evolution of the band and its heavy rhythmic reworkings. While the melodies are commercial, Nevermore refuses to get bogged down in technique and, in so doing, avoids the sterility and weakness that some associate with a certain other Seattle melodic metal band. With subtle, clean performances mixed with all-out metal hollering, Dane sounds like a doctorate-level student of Geoff Tate's vocal style ("The Sorrowed Man" being his thesis). Perhaps borrowing a little too heavily from Queensryche, Dane and his bandmates still infuse enough of their own passions and personality to make the music on In Memory their own. ~ Vincent Jeffries