Nevermore is one the Greek Metal audience's favorite bands. Like most metalheads here, I had been waiting for this concert for half a year, when I first learned about their European tour. I was wondering how the new Nevermore album, "This Godless Endeavor", would sound played live. Most of the people in Thessaloniki were looking forward to seeing the entire band on stage, after last year's concert, where Jim Sheppard (Bass) had to stay in, at a local hospital and couldn't attend the show with the rest of the band.

The show was supposed to start at 8.30 pm but there was some delay, to our delight, for only half an hour. However, the Neverheadz had started gathering outside Ydrogios from 5.30 pm! At 9 o'clock Nevermore were on stage and after a small intro they started blowing people's minds away with "Born" and then with "Acid Words" from "This Godless Endeavor". People went nuts with "Bittersweet Feast" and nobody stopped singing and headbanging. This atmosphere and this stage performance on behalf of the band was for me something completely different. I have seen Nevermore before, in the past, but this time I was breathless and speechless. The energy they transpired to the audience raised the adrenaline to high levels. The songs sounded even rawer played live but this is exactly what the Greek audience wants from the bands that visit this country. Back to "Politics of Ecstasy", the next song was "This Sacrament" and while nobody expected this one at that time, after the first riff every single person was screaming and headbanging like nuts. Of course, there was no chance in hell that there would be any "Dead Heart In A Dead World" songs missing from the playlist.

The next songs were "Narcosynthesis" and "The River Dragon Has Come" and as usual the performance was perfect and the audience showed its preference again before this Nevermore release. However, I really believe that the favorite song of the Greek audience was "Beyond Within", otherwise I can't explain the reason why Nevermore choose to perform this one every time they play here. For one more time the deep vocals of Warrel Dane created a thrilling atmosphere while singing "Dreaming Neon Black", one of the most beautiful and sensitive songs of the band. But, as we all know, the live performances of Nevermore are combinations of emotional calmness, rawness and aggression. That's why the next song, "The Seven Tongues Of God", drove everybody crazy! Non-stop stage diving, an incredibly intimate frontman and a tight band was all that was needed in order to create this perfect show. What followed was the two parts which are also connected to each other, lyrically, "The Learning" and "Sentient 6". Great performance by the whole band!

Once more "The Sound Of Silence" made all the heads move and during "The Heart Collector" Warrel Dane pointed the microphone at the fans that were singing with all their power. The last song before the encore was their lately made video, "Final Product". After coming back on stage for one more, Warrel tried to make people be quiet for the next song but the crowd wouldn't stop screaming out the band's name. After several requests from his side and after realizing he couldn't do anything about the audience's enthusiasm, the band managed to perform "This Godless Endeavor", "Inside Four Walls" and "Enemies Of Reality" before ending the set.

This was a perfect show from one of the most talented bands worldwide. I can't find anything negative; on the contrary I could write many pages about the friendly way of the band towards the fans, the tightness that characterized the band on stage, the choice to play some of their best songs and the crazy audience. I have seen Nevermore several times but I have to admit, this show was the best. I can't wait for their next tour!