Bite into Nevermore's Dead Heart in a Dead World and you'll find tasteful guitar parts and dramatic vocals piled high on layers of dumbed-down riffs. The band's fourth release is very easy to digest - perhaps more like candy than anything substantial. And though certain melodies and riffs spike the album's vital signs, ... Dead World's 11 tracks all run more or less parallel, never truly varying in feel or direction. With Nevermore's obvious talent, it's a shame their music is little more than Machine Head-inspired mediocrity with pretty guitars and vocals. Polish it all off with spotless production, and you basically have a progressive metal machine on training wheels.
