NEVERMORE will spend next spring on their first European headline tour since reforming. The "Liminal Spaces" run is 21 dates, opening in Berlin on April 29 and closing with two Turkish shows at the end of May — a deliberate bookend, since Turkey is where this version of the band first played live. RIVERS OF NIHIL and URNE support everything except those final two nights.
Work on the new album continues in the meantime, and the band have hinted that some of it may surface on stage before it surfaces on record.
Drummer Van Williams, who steers the band alongside guitarist Jeff Loomis, offered a description of the new material that is more appetite than information. "If the new music had to be described by one word, that would have to be delicious," he said. "Because it's so good it's gonna leave you hungry for more." On the timing of the return itself he was plainer: "It's been brewing for quite a while and has just started to manifest itself into the now. So what better time is there to kick things off than now?"
The line-up that will play these rooms is Loomis and Williams with guitarist Jack Cattoi, bassist Semir Özerkan and vocalist Berzan Önen. Önen is the one carrying the weight, and Loomis has been open about why he got the job — it was audible in the audition tape. "He really stood out strong in so many ways upon a first listen," the guitarist said. "I could really feel the emotion and passion when I heard him sing for the first time. He wasn't just going through the motions." What convinced him was a detail of phrasing: "I could tell right away that he was a fan of Warrel's singing just by the way he delivered and said certain words. I was really blown away at first watch."
That is the unavoidable subject. Warrel Dane, the voice of SANCTUARY and of every NEVERMORE album from the 1995 debut through "This Godless Endeavor", died in 2017. The band that grew out of SANCTUARY built its reputation on precision, on Loomis's writing, and on a singer nobody else sounded like. Replacing that is not a technical problem.
Loomis frames the whole undertaking as something he wants for himself as much as for the audience. "Van and I are super passionate about the band. What we deliver and bring back to the audience is us wanting to hear those old tracks again just as much as the fans. We obviously want our old fans there every step of the way, but also look forward to meeting a new generation of fans as well."
NEVERMORE — "Liminal Spaces" European tour 2027, with RIVERS OF NIHIL and URNE:
| Date | City |
|---|---|
| April 29 | Berlin, DE |
| April 30 | Hamburg, DE |
| May 01 | Frankfurt, DE |
| May 02 | Prague, CZ |
| May 04 | Warsaw, PL |
| May 06 | Munich, DE |
| May 07 | Leipzig, DE |
| May 08 | Cologne, DE |
| May 09 | Eindhoven, NL |
| May 11 | Antwerp, BE |
| May 13 | Dublin, IE |
| May 14 | Manchester, GB |
| May 15 | London, GB |
| May 16 | Paris, FR |
| May 18 | Pratteln, CH |
| May 20 | Barcelona, ES |
| May 21 | Madrid, ES |
| May 22 | Lisbon, PT |
| May 24 | Athens, GR * |
| May 27 | Istanbul, TR * |
| May 28 | Ankara, TR * |
* Without RIVERS OF NIHIL or URNE