NEVERMORE kicked off its summer 2026 European tour on July 26 with a headlining set at the Hills Of Rock festival in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the latest stop in the progressive metal band's ongoing comeback since reforming with a largely new lineup.
The current NEVERMORE features founding guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams alongside guitarist Jack Cattoi, bassist Semir Özerkan and vocalist Berzan Önen. The band's first live performance with this lineup took place on April 1, 2025 in Istanbul, and the Hills Of Rock appearance represents a further step in reestablishing NEVERMORE as a touring act more than a decade after the original group's 2011 dissolution and years after the December 2017 death of longtime vocalist Warrel Dane.
In Plovdiv, NEVERMORE played a ten-song set drawing from across its catalog, including "Beyond Within," "Inside Four Walls," "My Acid Words," "Engines Of Hate," "Born," "Believe In Nothing," "Narcosynthesis," "Moonrise (Through Mirrors Of Death)," "Enemies Of Reality" and "The River Dragon Has Come" — a set list that leans heavily on the band's celebrated late-1990s and 2000s output, including landmark albums "Dead Heart In A Dead World" and "This Godless Endeavor."
Loomis has spoken previously about the process of finding a new voice for the band, saying of Önen: "I could really feel the emotion and passion when I heard him sing for the first time." Williams, describing the chemistry behind the group's new material, kept it simple: "If the new music had to be described by one word, that would have to be delicious." Of the reunion itself, he added: "We love this. That's what drives us, the passion for music."
Hills Of Rock is one of the larger extreme and heavy music festivals in the Balkans, and NEVERMORE's appearance there continues a run of European festival dates for the band this summer. No new studio material has been announced alongside the tour, but the band's members have repeatedly signaled that new songs are being written for what would be NEVERMORE's first album since 2010's "The Obsidian Conspiracy."