Review by Adam M on July 24, 2025.

This was an excellent album that made use of a concept style to deliver an exciting and immersive experience to the listener.  It is an album that is dark and very moody and shows an emotional side around every corner. It is a work that needs time to be appreciated, but once it is, everything comes falling into place.

The musicianship on the work is stellar with great guitar performances and a solid vocal display from Warrell Dane.  It is a nicely produced album that carries forth the concept nature of its intention quite well.  There is a great deal of emphasis on the scope of the musicianship and it makes this work compelling time and time again.

There are very few flaws to be found here as the album is the gem of the band’s discography.  It is perhaps too concept based at times and one would wish for a more memorable straightforward work at times.  This is alleviated by some tuneful songs that will still become ingrained in your head over time. 

Fans of bands like Witherfall will find a lot to like here with the dark concept aura of this work.  The very pessimistic vibe is really interesting and will catch a lot of people’s attention.  There is a lot of effort put into making this a flowing concept work and it shows in the band’s songwriting and vision.

Rating: 8.1/10

Review by Luka on May 20, 2001.

Mighty Nevermore outdo themselves again, this probably being their strongest album ever. Jeff Loomis’ eerie guitar notes hover over tight shredding and constant double-bass drumming while Warrel Dane wails about insanity, death, dreams and the like.

The songs start off very heavy and aggressive but the more of the album you listen, the more the songs start to turn slow, melodic, and emotional. At first I branded these lighter, more acoustic-based songs like "Deconstruction" or "The Lotus Eaters" pure filler material, and so about half of the album really annoyed me. Eventually I grew to like these songs and now sometimes look forward to them even more than the heavy ones, so the album takes time to get into. The light songs give the album so much character, had it been traditional heavy metal all the way through it wouldn’t have impressed me too much at all.

The musicianship is well... what can I say? Warrel Dane (ex-Sanctuary) has one of the most distinctive voices in metal while Jeff Loomis is a guitarist of great renown. Amazing solos, amazing lyrics, amazing vocals, drumming... Nevermore, along with Iced Earth, are the prime representatives of American metal to the world, and are distinctly more heavy and aggressive than European power metal bands, making up for cheesy melodies (that are becoming a power metal trademark) with rough, chord-based riffs. Yet the irony of them still being far more famous in Europe or Japan than in their own country is still there.

My favorites from the heavy cuts would be "The Death of Passion" and "The Fault of the Flesh", while "The Lotus Eaters" and "All Play Dead" are the finest of the melodic, emotional tracks.

Bottom Line: This album epitomizes everything about 90’s American underground heavy metal, with enough fine musicianship and magnitude to become a classic.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Emma on April 8, 2010.

Brutal Death Metal from Ukraine! Brilliant Coldness’ second release "Poisoned Reality" is everything a death junkie could want and then some. "Poisoned Reality" opens with one of the most interestingly mundane samples of the urban sound-scape. The fact that this is the starting point for the album makes sense; dealing with the annoying cacophony of other people you hate certainly puts one in the mood for Death Metal of the most brutal sort.

Their sound can be defined as bass-heavy as in you can really hear the bass. They even allow the guy a solo! Sputtering vocals with a peanut-butter texture unique to Eastern Europe add a particular charm. Brilliant Coldness’ overall sound could be described as heavy with an old-school feel as they avoid any Black Metal influence as far as effects and recording quality. What makes this album stand out is again the odd sample choices, the introduction to ‘Paradox Of Madness’ is a particular favorite in it’s appropriateness.

The album overall is well done, solid, and enjoyable. It’s unfortunate for this band (like so many others) Photoshop was the artistic tool of choice for the cover design. I mean, I would not have looked twice at this album based on that, which is shallow I know, but really, there’s a lot more going on here and shouldn’t the visual presentation justify the music inside? This doesn’t affect the rating for "Poisoned Reality", it just bugs me. Get out your pens and ink people! Even horribly drawn covers have more charm than the digital stuff!

Anyways, this is good stuff. If you like your Death Metal with a little old-school, make sure to put Brilliant Coldness on your metal shopping list!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 6
Overall: 8.3

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by Emma on April 8, 2010.

Brutal Death Metal from Ukraine! Brilliant Coldness’ second release "Poisoned Reality" is everything a death junkie could want and then some. "Poisoned Reality" opens with one of the most interestingly mundane samples of the urban sound-scape. The fact that this is the starting point for the album makes sense; dealing with the annoying cacophony of other people you hate certainly puts one in the mood for Death Metal of the most brutal sort.

Their sound can be defined as bass-heavy as in you can really hear the bass. They even allow the guy a solo! Sputtering vocals with a peanut-butter texture unique to Eastern Europe add a particular charm. Brilliant Coldness’ overall sound could be described as heavy with an old-school feel as they avoid any Black Metal influence as far as effects and recording quality. What makes this album stand out is again the odd sample choices, the introduction to ‘Paradox Of Madness’ is a particular favorite in it’s appropriateness.

The album overall is well done, solid, and enjoyable. It’s unfortunate for this band (like so many others) Photoshop was the artistic tool of choice for the cover design. I mean, I would not have looked twice at this album based on that, which is shallow I know, but really, there’s a lot more going on here and shouldn’t the visual presentation justify the music inside? This doesn’t affect the rating for "Poisoned Reality", it just bugs me. Get out your pens and ink people! Even horribly drawn covers have more charm than the digital stuff!

Anyways, this is good stuff. If you like your Death Metal with a little old-school, make sure to put Brilliant Coldness on your metal shopping list!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 6
Overall: 8.3

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by JD on March 27, 2010.

The Ukraine is known for many things that are both good and bad, one of the good is the proliferation of very extreme forms of metal. Coming out of this growing yet somewhat misunderstood scene, Brilliant Coldness seems to be of the more talked about heavy bands that is from the former Soviet Union satellite province... and who are shining stars in the making. Fascinated, I dived in.

Combining some seriously heavy Technical Death Metal with this strange underlying Grindcore aspects in the music, Brilliant Coldness seemed to be one of the heaviest things I have encountered. With the thunderous speeding style of drums, acid laced slashing guitars and gravel vocals that seem to be from the darkest realms of never-ending pain and total destruction... this band never fucks around when it comes to playing. With such devastating power, it seems that only the strong will survive the metallic onslaught.

Now, I am not a Grindcore fan, but hearing just how the Grind is incorporated into the Death Metal so effortlessly... it brought the music alive. Add in the fact there are many cases of great lyrics not to mention that this is also a killer recording to accent some staggering musicianship as well - Brilliant Coldness has a guaranteed metallic monster on their hands, and they are not afraid to use it.

Gotta really repeat myself in a different way... this more than just a great album- dare do I say so early into a new year that this might be the Death Metal album of the year? Yep, it is that fucking good.　

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship:9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 9
Originality: 8.5
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Review by JD on March 27, 2010.

The Ukraine is known for many things that are both good and bad, one of the good is the proliferation of very extreme forms of metal. Coming out of this growing yet somewhat misunderstood scene, Brilliant Coldness seems to be of the more talked about heavy bands that is from the former Soviet Union satellite province... and who are shining stars in the making. Fascinated, I dived in.

Combining some seriously heavy Technical Death Metal with this strange underlying Grindcore aspects in the music, Brilliant Coldness seemed to be one of the heaviest things I have encountered. With the thunderous speeding style of drums, acid laced slashing guitars and gravel vocals that seem to be from the darkest realms of never-ending pain and total destruction... this band never fucks around when it comes to playing. With such devastating power, it seems that only the strong will survive the metallic onslaught.

Now, I am not a Grindcore fan, but hearing just how the Grind is incorporated into the Death Metal so effortlessly... it brought the music alive. Add in the fact there are many cases of great lyrics not to mention that this is also a killer recording to accent some staggering musicianship as well - Brilliant Coldness has a guaranteed metallic monster on their hands, and they are not afraid to use it.

Gotta really repeat myself in a different way... this more than just a great album- dare do I say so early into a new year that this might be the Death Metal album of the year? Yep, it is that fucking good.　

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship:9
Atmosphere: 8.5
Production: 9
Originality: 8.5
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Review by Adam M on July 24, 2025.

This was an excellent album that made use of a concept style to deliver an exciting and immersive experience to the listener.  It is an album that is dark and very moody and shows an emotional side around every corner. It is a work that needs time to be appreciated, but once it is, everything comes falling into place.

The musicianship on the work is stellar with great guitar performances and a solid vocal display from Warrell Dane.  It is a nicely produced album that carries forth the concept nature of its intention quite well.  There is a great deal of emphasis on the scope of the musicianship and it makes this work compelling time and time again.

There are very few flaws to be found here as the album is the gem of the band’s discography.  It is perhaps too concept based at times and one would wish for a more memorable straightforward work at times.  This is alleviated by some tuneful songs that will still become ingrained in your head over time. 

Fans of bands like Witherfall will find a lot to like here with the dark concept aura of this work.  The very pessimistic vibe is really interesting and will catch a lot of people’s attention.  There is a lot of effort put into making this a flowing concept work and it shows in the band’s songwriting and vision.

Rating: 8.1/10

Review by Luka on May 20, 2001.

Mighty Nevermore outdo themselves again, this probably being their strongest album ever. Jeff Loomis’ eerie guitar notes hover over tight shredding and constant double-bass drumming while Warrel Dane wails about insanity, death, dreams and the like.

The songs start off very heavy and aggressive but the more of the album you listen, the more the songs start to turn slow, melodic, and emotional. At first I branded these lighter, more acoustic-based songs like "Deconstruction" or "The Lotus Eaters" pure filler material, and so about half of the album really annoyed me. Eventually I grew to like these songs and now sometimes look forward to them even more than the heavy ones, so the album takes time to get into. The light songs give the album so much character, had it been traditional heavy metal all the way through it wouldn’t have impressed me too much at all.

The musicianship is well... what can I say? Warrel Dane (ex-Sanctuary) has one of the most distinctive voices in metal while Jeff Loomis is a guitarist of great renown. Amazing solos, amazing lyrics, amazing vocals, drumming... Nevermore, along with Iced Earth, are the prime representatives of American metal to the world, and are distinctly more heavy and aggressive than European power metal bands, making up for cheesy melodies (that are becoming a power metal trademark) with rough, chord-based riffs. Yet the irony of them still being far more famous in Europe or Japan than in their own country is still there.

My favorites from the heavy cuts would be "The Death of Passion" and "The Fault of the Flesh", while "The Lotus Eaters" and "All Play Dead" are the finest of the melodic, emotional tracks.

Bottom Line: This album epitomizes everything about 90’s American underground heavy metal, with enough fine musicianship and magnitude to become a classic.

Rating: 9 out of 10