Ever since Sanctuary reunited on the inaugural 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise this past January fans have been speculating as to when (and if) they’d get around to doing a few more shows. And, ya know, it’s not as if Nevermore’s busy schedule is providing any conflicts these days. Speculate no longer: the website for NYC’s Gramercy Theatre lists a January 11th, 2012 Sanctuary date, while a search on Ticketbastard turns up another date on January 7th, 2012 at Club Nokia in L.A. With only four days between two shows on opposite coasts, it’s likely those are the only two they’ll be playing this time around, but I wouldn’t be surprised if another major market fly-in such as Chicago or Dallas popped up around the same time-frame.

Pardon me if this old news, but I haven’t seen it announced anywhere yet — the band doesn’t appear to have official web properties of any sort and they haven’t sent out an email blast or press release of any kind either. So this is big news! Sanctuary’s prime came before my time, but I have an immense respect for their legacy and love Warrel Dane as a vocalist. Too bad Jeff Loomis won’t be involved this time around.

-VN

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photos by Daniel Zetterstrom

In April, Jeff Loomis (#7 on our list of the Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists) and drummer Van Williams announced their departure from Nevermore. And while bands lose members all the time, few splits have ever rocked the metal world the way this one did. The idea of Nevermore without Williams and, especially, Loomis, seemed like blasphemy to a lot of fans — including this one. For Loomis is truly a guitar god; his style and sound define Nevermore, and if he retired tomorrow, his legend would already be assured.

But Loomis stayed quiet about the cause of the split, even as Nevermore vocalist Warrel Dane openly talked smack in the press. Instead of dwelling on the past, it seemed that Loomis wanted to concentrate on the future: In July, he teased a new solo effort — his first since 2008′s Zero Order Phase — and in August, he revealed that he’d recruited some pretty incredible collaborators for that album, including Soilwork drummer Dirk Verbeuren, and 7 Horns 7 Eyes’ guitarist Aaron Smith, who is producing the release.

And while there’s still no official release date or even a title for Loomis’ first post-Nevermore outing, he has, at last, started to speak out on the whirlwind year he’s been experiencing… albeit cautiously. He’s granted interviews to a few European magazines, but MetalSucks is the only North American media outlet with whom he has discussed — and, as we understand, will discuss — the break-up. And, yes, as card carrying members of the Cult of Loomis, we were only too thrilled to be able to get his side of the story.

After the jump, read everything Loomis has to say about what went wrong with Nevermore, how he feels about Dane’s comments in the press, the current status of his relationship with Dane and Nevermore bassist Jim Sheppard, and, of course, some juicy details on his new solo album.

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So unless you live under Gene Hoglan’s ass cheek, by now you have surely heard the devastating news – Nevermore has left Nevermore. I mean, there are still technically some members of Nevermore left in Nevermore, and no (okay, minimal) disrespect to those dudes, but GIVE US A FUCKING BREAK it’s not Nevermore without Jeff Loomis and Van Williams. The fact that the band would even try to continue with a new line-up means the remaining members are either delusional and think they can do it without Loomis and Williams, or cynical and think people won’t notice as long as the Nevermore brand is still in place. Either way it will take some kind of fucking miracle for anyone to care about this band again, at least until the inevitable reunion X number of years from now.

So. As we were sitting in LAX yesterday waiting to board our flight, watching some dude casually eat his boogers as though a) that were an okay thing to do and b) he wasn’t in the middle of a fucking airport surrounded by strangers, we started to joke around about who Nevermore could possibly hire to replace Loomis and Williams. There’s a few guys on this list whose presence might even make us sit up and pay attention to Nu-Nevermore. We’re not saying it would be good, we’re just saying we’d pay attention.

But it’s not likely that any of these people will actually end up in Nevermore, and we need to emphasize for the cheap seats that this is just us having fun and is not based in any actual fact or even vague rumors that we have heard.

And so –

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Saw this unsettling bit of news towards the end of the day yesterday via Metal Underground: Nevermore bassist Jim Sheppard underwent brain surgery yesterday to remove a benign brain tumor. Jim’s ongoing struggle with Crohn’s disease is fairly well-documented, but this is the first we’ve heard of a brain tumor. Just two weeks ago he was aboard the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise rocking the bass for Sanctuary (but not Nevermore, interestingly), not something you’d expect someone who knows they have a serious medical issue to do; seems like the kind of thing that was recently discovered and action needed to be taken immediately.

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Welcome to “Question of the Week,” a (sometimes) weekly debate amongst the MetalSucks staff regarding a recent hot button issue.

Presumably inspired by this week’s announcement of a Big 4 show in the U.S., this week’s question was posed by MetalSucks contributor/author of the Reign in Blood entry into the 33 1/3 book series, D.X. Ferris. Mr. Ferris was even good enough to join us for this edition of QOTW! And his query was:

IF THE BIG FOUR WERE THE BIG EIGHT, WHICH BANDS WOULD BE THE NEXT FOUR IN THE GROUP?

The MS staff’s answers after the jump.

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Dude windmilling in the jacuzzi as some band plays behind him. Jacuzzis = metal.

Our brothas and sista at Metal Injection are having a grand ol’ time on the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise, which by now you’ve surely heard about: a 4-day cruise from Miami to Cozumel and back featuring close to 50 metal bands on three stages, many of them playing more than once. You can imagine the scene… lots and lots and lots of black t-shirts.

MI’s Rob, Frank and Noa are posting regular liveblog updates from their voyage by continuing to add updates to this page. Among some amusing highlights:

• Check out this video of the scene before the storm. So many black t-shirts!
• Nevermore and Sanctuary both fucking killed it. Says Noa, “It was great seeing Jim [Shephard] with a bass in his hand instead of quarters for the slot machines.”

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Since Axl and I are very patriotic types (couldn’t you tell?) we’ve decide to close the Mansion a bit early this holiday weekend so we can get to the flag-waving festivities as soon as possible.

Kidding! We’re closing early so we can get hiiiiigh and then go see FAITH NO FUCKING MORE! Neither one of us having seen FNM before (although I had a chance to in 1997 and, for some reason, didn’t), we’ve literally been waiting for this moment for most of our lives. We will not be schmoozing with the industry types at a bar in the back, nor will we be politely bobbing our heads on the periphery somewhere… we’ll be right up fucking front, rocking the fuck out as hard as possible (old fashioned push-pit? I hope). To that end, I’m pretty sure we won’t even be drinking tonight; me because I want to remember this night perfectly, and Axl because he doesn’t wanna have to go pee-pee during the show. The man is smart, I tell you.

Here’s what happened this week in the world of metal:

• Van Halen announced plans for a DLR-fronted album in early 2011. Axl is — shockingly — skeptical.
• As part of “Be Nice Day” at the MS Mansion, we said nothing mean about new videos from Hellyeah and Papa Roach.
• We looked at new releases by Bonded by Blood (as part of “Be Nice Day”!), Ceremony and The Ghost Inside, Mastodon, Chambers, and Nattsol.
• We premiered a new track by NJ progressive post-hardcore mind-fuckers East of the Wall.
• We spoke with Warrel Dane of Nevermore and Sanctuary, and Jon Fine about Taco Riffs.
• We sat in on the meeting in which Disturbed brainstormed the artwork for their new album.
• Glenn Danzig is a crappy driver, but Vince Neil is an even crappier one.

Since July 4th falls on a Sunday this year, the gates of the Mansion will be shuttered on Monday, July 5th — like most U.S. businesses — so we can extend the partying by an extra day. See you Tuesday, Suckers.

-VN

We might’ve suspected that Nevermore’s Warrel Dane had been experiencing wistful fondness for his former band, Sanctuary. The hint came back in December, when Dane devoted a healthy chunk of a solo set in Seattle to revisiting the shriek-metal quintet’s catalogue; I crinkled an eyebrow and wondered why Dane would distract from his then-recent solo record and Nevermore’s forthcoming album The Obsidian Conspiracy with talk of the under-loved, little-missed Sanctuary. Weird timing, right?

Seven months later, it’s the eve of The Obsidian Conspiracy‘s release and Dane unloads an even more distracting announcement: After 20 years, Sanctuary is back together! And recording an album!! Holy fuckballs!!!

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Nevermore’s last record came out in 2005, but since then singer Warrel Dane has been privy to some fantastical pairings: On a guest turn late in Behemoth’s The Apostasy, Dane’s anguished wail was like pineapple slices added to Nergal & crew’s deep-dish pizza. Then, for production duties on his solo outing, Dane drafted Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers. And while solo albums are usually met with apprehension or outright denial — is anyone onboard to buy the mythical Steven Tyler record? — Praises To The War Machine was somewhat of an unheralded gem. At very least, it gave us a glimpse of the parallel dimension where Dane fronts a brooding, pessimistic Soilwork. Next up, Dane and Nevermore are set to release The Obsidian Conspiracy, which teams Wichers (producing) with one of the architects of the modern metal sound, Andy Sneap (mixing). If that doesn’t set your bottom all a-tingle, let me know and I’ll come jolt you with the Metal Sucks staff taser. Obviously, you need it.

But anyway, on the approach of The Obsidian Conspiracy‘s release and undoubtedly a long round of touring, Dane has announced his first-ever solo show. It appears to be a one-off thing and since Dane promises a set comprised of songs from his entire canon, this show will match him with his most formidable foil yet: songs by his former band, Sanctuary! Sure, Sanctuary is basically proto-Nevermore, but oddly no Nevermore record resonates as deeply as the pure thrash of the Dave Mustaine-produced Refuge Denied.

– ADF