Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Nicodemus – Vanity Is A Virtue – 2005 – Sonic Age Records

Track Listing1.Benighted 2. Next In Nocturne 3. Negative Ions 4. Pyramidion 5. A Metaphysical Theory Of Dynamics 6. Reason and Relapse 7. ...And It Becomes You

Homework time is among us again. Go to your CD collection now, any of the following bands you may have, remove them and put them in a box. Those bands like Dimmu Borgir, The Cure, Type O Negative, Depeche Mode (I know your secret, you have a guilty pleasure), King Diamond/Mercyful Fate, Dream Theatre, Theatre Of Tragedy, ah Hell, just place your entire cd collection in that box. Shake it up real hard, and then open that box and what is left?

The US based gothic act, Nicodemus, that’s what.

The act was forged in 1998 by Christopher Morris, who Created Dark Throne Music to release his project. In 2002, they jumped on board with Jeff Keller Management LLC (Black 'N Blue) and then that team went to a Greece based label, Sonic Age Records. This album features Christopher Morris - Vocals & Bass, Matthew McGee - Guitar, Andrew Greene - Drums, Kirk Wagner – Keyboards and, Dave Peters – Guitar.

From the opening riffs, any fears I had about this album went away. That was until listening to nine minutes of this Robert Smith (Vocals for The Cure) wannabe. Alternative rock popped into my head. Our next two tracks could actually be one song. Thank God they split them up. Death/black vocals mixed with progressive type music. Then comes the track that can seemingly breathe life into this corpse called "Vanity Is A Virtue". Soft vocals that are yet to become overpowering. Finally a song that does not make a person’s skin crawl. One ray of light that is overshadowed by the remaining three songs, which are simple, lack structure, organization or imagination, and are simply poorly written and preformed.

This CD has seven long songs, which are just long for the sole purpose of being long (averaging eight minutes or better). Any listener will simply get bored. Lyrically, the album fell like Saddam’s empire, and has little or no feeling in the songs. They are just bad songs on a CD. Musically, it was a clever mix of many genres in music, but like they say, less is more. My mind began wandering as we reached the seven minute mark in a lot of songs with seemingly no end in sight. Long is ok if it serves a purpose--look at the Lord of the Rings movies, they were all long but they served a purpose, and there was a goal. They weren’t just random thoughts. The fact of the matter is this, it is interesting to hear how they can combine so much, but ultimately...sorry.

Rating: Make the bad people stop!


--IcedMojo 6.16.06