I’m pretty sure that EVERYONE in the metal community has heard of Nevermore at this point. I am also pretty sure that everyone has heard “The Rivers Dragon Has Come” along with THE Jeff Loomis solo that it contains. It’s been about ten years since Nevermore disbanded, and even fewer years since the untimely passing of singer Warrel Dane. Nevermore was a huge band for me as a young guitarist, so I was very sad about all of that. Fun fact: one time in 11th grade I recited the lyrics to “This Godless Endeavor” in front of my honors English class as part of a poetry presentation (cue slow clap.)
Luckily for all of us, Atlanta’s Paladin decided to do a covers EP honoring the late great Nevermore and Warrel Dane. This EP entitled Anamnesis (Prosthetic Records) features: The River Dragon Has Come, Final Product (hell yes), and 42147. All of these songs are BANGERS, and I’m glad to see that they decided to roll with a tune from This Godless Endeavor (my personal favorite) as well. These guys really did a great job on this stuff and did it the justice that it deserves. Killer guitarists and an overall very sick project. Also stoked to see that Travis Smith handled the art and John Douglass handled the drum mixing. Both great dudes.
Taylor from Paladin had the following to say:
Ah, River Dragon. Nevermore’s household hit. Everybody knows it, everybody loves it. And if they don’t, they should. Legator, whom we’ve been working with for a few months now, were kind enough to lend us some nice-ass axes for this playthrough since we don’t own a single 7-string between the two of us. The song itself is fairly straightforward and fun with a bunch of groove riffs and a healthy dose of pinch harmonics. Then there’s the good ol’ “River Dragon lead.” Almost a rite of passage at this point for metal lead guitarists, but still a pain in the ass to play cleanly. We also threw in a short breakdown bit at the very end of the song, which is how Nevermore would play it live sometimes.
Guitarist Alex added some details about the tone you’re hearing:
“Additionally the guitar tone used was a 5150III 50 Watt with the matching 4×12 EVH cab with Celestion V30 speakers mic’d up with a blend of a Shure SM57, Sennheiser MD421 & Neumann U87 into Neve 1073 mic pre’s. Guitars used were a Legator EG-7 (Taylor) and a Legator N7ODT (Alex) both strung with Elixir 9-52 strings and tuned down a half step.”
You can pick up this EP on the Paladin Bandcamp.
