Listen. I don’t know who’s gonna be in the reactivated version of Nevermore aside from guitarist Jeff Loomis and drummer Van Williams. But I’m really, truly hoping Brandon Ellis – formerly of The Black Dahlia Murder and currently filling in with Cannibal Corpse live – is in Nevermore 2.0.
Not only because he shreds, but because of the below demo he did with Loomis for some new Jackson models. I don’t what that song is, but it fucking rules and should tip everyone off to the fact that Loomis and Ellis together would be phenomenal.
Nevermore‘s comeback comes 15 years after internal differences saw Loomis and Williams leave in 2011, leading to the cancellation of planned tours. Vocalist Warrel Dane maintained at the time that the band hadn’t broken up, but acknowledged it would be hard to continue without Loomis — insisting he wouldn’t make another Nevermore record without him.
While both men left the door open to a reunion, Dane‘s death in 2017 from a heart attack at the age of 56 made the prospect far more complex. Loomis has since said part of the reason for leaving Arch Enemy, the band he’d played with for a decade, was to relaunch Nevermore. “I wanted to kind of be behind the driver’s wheel of my own music again,” he told Metal Magnitude. “Reforming my old band… was a very big part of my life for a long time.”
Not everyone welcomed the move. Co-founder and original bassist Jim Sheppard publicly criticized the decision, calling it “completely disrespectful” and saying no one had contacted him before moving ahead. He later softened his stance, adding: “With that said, I wish them the best.”
Despite the pushback, Loomis says the new line-up “honors our legacy while forging a new path forward” and promises the band will be “bigger and better than it ever was.” Wacken 2026 is set to be the first major performance of the reactivated Nevermore, though earlier shows haven’t been ruled out.
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