NEVERMORE Announces Touring Guitarist

Seattle metallers NEVERMORE have tapped a "very talented" Hungarian guitar player by the name of Attila Voros to play second guitar on the band's upcoming tour. The group states, "Attila [pictured below] has already performed with Warrel Dane's [NEVERMORE singer] solo project, and realizing how good he is, we decided he would be a perfect addition for the summer festivals we are about to embark on in Europe."

A new video interview with NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis can be viewed at Ultimate-Guitar.tv.

"The Obsidian Conspiracy", the long-awaited new album from NEVERMORE, will be released in Europe on May 31 and in North America on June 8 via Century Media Records.

In addition to the album's standard edition, a limited box-set edition will be made available featuring featuring two cover versions — "The Crystal Ship" (THE DOORS) and "Transmission" (THE TEA PARTY) — and a bonus "Play The Guitar Like Jeff Loomis" disc containing "Your Poison Throne" and "The Obsidian Conspiracy" play-along videos and guitar tabs for both songs.

Disc 1:

01. The Termination Proclamation
02. Your Poison Throne
03. Moonrise (Through Mirrors Of Death)
04. And The Maiden Spoke
05. Emptiness Unobstructed
06. The Blue Marble And The New Soul
07. Without Morals
08. The Day You Built The Wall
09. She Comes In Colors
10. The Obsidian Conspiracy
11. Crystal Ship (THE DOORS cover; bonus track)
12. Temptation (THE TEA PARTY cover; bonus track)

Disc 2 - "Play The Guitar Like Jeff Loomis":

* "Your Poison Throne" - without guitar
* "Your Poison Throne" - guitar only
* "The Obsidian Conspiracy" - without guitar
* "The Obsidian Conspiracy" - guitar only
* Video Enhancement: Play-along video for the song "Your Poison Throne" with guitar-playing instructions from Jeff Loomis
* Video Enhancement: Play-along video for the song "The Obsidian Conspiracy" with guitar-playing instructions from Jeff Loomis
* Guitar tabs of both songs as PDF files

A four-minute video clip containing audio samples of all 10 tracks that will appear on the stand edition of "The Obsidian Conspiracy" is available below.

The drum tracks for "The Obsidian Conspiracy" were completed in the group's hometown of Seattle with SOILWORK guitarist Peter Wichers, who previously worked with Dane on the singer's solo debut, "Praises to the War Machine". Longtime friend and collaborator Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, ARCH ENEMY, EXODUS, MACHINE HEAD) once again handled mixing duties.

The captivating and dynamic cover art was once again created by the great Travis Smith (OPETH, KATATONIA) and can be viewed below.

According to Dane, the song "And The Maiden Spoke" "is going to blow your minds; it's twisted, progressive lunatic fringe riffing with vicious hooklines."

He added: "These songs are full of newfound rage, lyrically and musically. Jeff Loomis has come up with some amazing new riffs that will no doubt please old and new fans alike. Also, I think the combination of Peter and Andy will result in something very, very special."

In an interview with Cerebral Metalhead, Dane said of "The Crystal Ship" cover, "THE DOORS song was not my original choice. I really wanted to do this song called 'Waiting For the Sun'.

"When I listen to songs, of course, since I'm a lyricist, I gravitate towards cover songs (for which) I admire the lyrics. Jeff [Loomis] being a guitarist, he goes for the guitar stuff that he thinks is really cool. And that's how we came on THE DOORS thing.

"'Crystal Ship', originally he [Jeff] had taken the approach of making it a little heavy. And I tried to work with it and I said, 'Jeff, I don't think this is working. I think maybe what we should try is an all-acoustic approach to the song.' And when we did it, he was like, 'Dude, you're totally right.' And he was like doing five-layered guitar parts over this.

"When people hear it, it doesn't sound like THE DOORS anymore. I think that's what people expect when we do cover songs. 'Cause we've been known to deconstruct and recreate more than one song."