UMUR "Enemies of Reality" is the 5th full-length studio album by US power/thrash metal act Nevermore. The album was released through Century Media Records in July 2003. It´s the successor to "Dead Heart in a Dead World" from 2000 and features the same four-piece lineup who recorded the predecessor. Throughout their career Nevermore were never able to recruit a long lasting second guitarist to compliment Jeff Loomis, although the band´s music was always intented to be played by two guitarists.

"Enemies of Reality" was recorded on a relatively small budget, as a consequence of being the last album Nevermore owed Century Media Records under their original contract. The label wanted the band to sign a new contract before recording the album, while the band wanted to record the album, and then shop around for a new label deal. The situation went on to become frustrating for both band and label, and eventually Century Media Records cut the band´s recording budget to a minimum, which meant Nevermore had to act fast to find a producer and studio time corresponding to the budget they had been given. They brought in former Queensrÿche guitarist Kelly Gray to produce "Enemies of Reality", and it´s one of those producer choices which divides the waters completely.

Both Neil Kernon (who produced the band´s first three albums) and Andy Sneap (who produced "Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000)") were almost universally lauded for their contributions to the preceding album releases, while many fans and critics felt that Gray had created a sub par sound production on "Enemies of Reality". And indeed it is a much more raw and unpolished release than especially its direct predecessor. It´s to the point of being a bit noisy, and even messy sounding, but to my ears it´s not without its charm. In fact I think the chaotic and raw sound production suits the material featured on the album really well. The critics got their will a few years later though when in 2005 "Enemies of Reality" was remixed by Andy Sneap. The remix features a vastly different and more polished mix and it´s pretty surely an aquired taste if you prefer the original sound production or the remixed version of the album. Personally I would never have altered the original as I feel it brought exactly the right rawness to the material...

...material which in most cases are angry, raw, and fast-paced thrashy tracks (except for "Tomorrow Turned Into Yesterday", "Who Decides", and "Noumenon". The two former being power ballads, and the latter being a slow and dark track). As always Nevermore´s music can´t be put into a box, and while there are plenty of powerful thrashy riffs and rhythms featured on the album, it´s a bit more nuanced than that. The music also features melodic US power metal traits and elements from progressive metal. It´s quite dynamic music too featuring both loud heavy parts and more mellow acoustic sections. The musicianship are on a high level on all posts. The rhythm section are rock solid and deliver tight yet organic playing, Loomis is a world class guitarist, able to both shred with the best but also deliver beautiful melodic parts, and Warrel Dane is the icing on the cake. Paatos filled, commanding, and extremely skillfully delivered vocals by the man with the great voice. His vocal lines are often a bit less melodic than on the predecessor, but it probably has a lot to do with the more immediate recording process (many vocal tracks were recorded immediately after recording the instrumental parts for a track, rather than recording all vocals for all tracks, at the end of the recording session).

Upon conclusion "Enemies of Reality" is a bit of the "odd one out" album in the band´s discography. Especially considering the two more successful and lauded albums which bookend it. Personally I always thought it was a nice aggressive kick in the balls (with a few really nice melodic moments to spice things up), at just the right time in Nevermore´s career. They needed to get this album out of their system, to be able to write and record an album as fully developed as "This Godless Endeavor (2005)". I wouldn´t call "Enemies of Reality" Nevermore´s best album, but it´s still a high quality release showing a creative and raw side of the band which works well. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.