Nevermore are set to return to the stage in 2026 for the primary time in over a decade, with guitarist Jeff Loomis confirming the band will debut a revamped line-up — and probably new materials — at Wacken Open Air.
“Nice information for everybody,” Loomis stated in a brand new video message. “We’re going to be making a return to Wacken after virtually 16 years. Subsequent yr in 2026, we make our return to the Wacken stage together with some new band members and probably new songs as effectively. However we’ll undoubtedly be enjoying you the previous classics and rocking the stage.”
The confirmed line-up thus far options Loomis alongside founding drummer Van Williams, plus a brand new bassist and vocalist, each but to be revealed. The group launched a world search earlier this yr, receiving greater than 650 submissions from hopefuls all over the world earlier than selecting their closing decisions.
Nevermore‘s comeback comes 15 years after inside variations noticed Loomis and Williams depart in 2011, resulting in the cancellation of deliberate excursions. Vocalist Warrel Dane maintained on the time that the band hadn’t damaged up, however acknowledged it will be laborious to proceed with out Loomis — insisting he would not make one other Nevermore file with out him.
Whereas each males left the door open to a reunion, Dane‘s loss of life in 2017 from a coronary heart assault on the age of 56 made the prospect much more complicated. Loomis has since stated a part of the rationale for leaving Arch Enemy, the band he’d performed with for a decade, was to relaunch Nevermore. “I needed to type of be behind the motive force’s wheel of my very own music once more,” he informed Metallic Magnitude. “Reforming my previous band… was a really huge a part of my life for a very long time.”
Not everybody welcomed the transfer. Co-founder and authentic bassist Jim Sheppard publicly criticized the choice, calling it “utterly disrespectful” and saying nobody had contacted him earlier than shifting forward. He later softened his stance, including: “With that stated, I want them the perfect.”
Regardless of the pushback, Loomis says the brand new line-up “honors our legacy whereas forging a brand new path ahead” and guarantees the band might be “greater and higher than it ever was.” Wacken 2026 is ready to be the primary main efficiency of the reactivated Nevermore, although earlier reveals have not been dominated out.
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