The sold-out IF Performance Hall Beşiktaş in Istanbul left no room for ambiguity on April 1, 2026: Nevermore played, and people came. What exactly was standing on that stage is a different question.

19 songs in just under two hours. Songs that people know from having seen Warrel Dane live. Songs that nobody had heard performed since his death in 2017. Now sung by someone the crowd in that room may have been seeing for the very first time.

Who this is

The new lineup consists of two original members and three new faces. Jeff Loomis on guitar and Van Williams on drums are back – the two who effectively ended Nevermore in 2011 when they walked out. On vocals: Berzan Önen, a Turkish singer, found through a rigorous audition process in early 2025. On second guitar, Jack Cattoi; on bass, Semir Özerkan, also Turkish.

Istanbul was not an arbitrary starting point. It was a statement – and the band knew exactly what they were doing.

What’s missing

Warrel Dane died on December 13, 2017 in São Paulo, Brazil. He was 56 years old. He was in the middle of recording his solo album Shadow Work when a heart attack killed him. Dane was not just any singer; he was the band in a way that few frontmen ever are. His voice carried a vulnerability that had no business being in a thrash metal project and was completely at home there. He once summed up the 2011 dissolution himself: Nevermore was “the greatest band that alcohol ever ruined.” Not an accusation. A verdict from the inside.

Tim Calvert, who played second guitar on Dreaming Neon Black (1999), died on April 30, 2018, at the age of 52, from ALS.

And then there is Jim Sheppard. The co-founding bassist of Nevermore is not part of the reunion. Not because he wasn’t asked, but because he wasn’t asked. When Loomis and Williams posted a teaser video in December 2024, Sheppard found out the same way everyone else did: from the internet. His wife Priscila wrote on Facebook that it was “completely disrespectful of them to use the name NEVERMORE without consulting Jim Sheppard, as he is one of the founders of the band.” No legal action followed. The reunion went ahead anyway.

Istanbul anyway

The band’s choice of Istanbul as their debut city is the most honest statement they could make about their own situation. This Nevermore is not the band that stopped fifteen years ago – and they’re not pretending it is. They start where two of their new members come from. They build on what existed without claiming it’s the same thing.

The setlist drew from the full back catalogue: from Dreaming Neon Black to The Obsidian Conspiracy, from Engines of Hate to Dead Heart in a Dead World. Anyone who wants to know what Önen does with this material can watch footage from Istanbul. The verdict is yours.

What’s coming

Nevermore have signed with Reigning Phoenix Music and are working on new material. Van Williams has already offered a preview: “If the new music had to be described by one word, that would have to be delicious. Because it’s so good it’s gonna leave you hungry for more.” Until then: South America in April (Santiago, São Paulo twice), then a European festival summer with appearances at Wacken, Bloodstock, Brutal Assault, Alcatraz, and several shows alongside Savatage. In September they support Judas Priest on seven dates of the Faithkeepers Tour – from Bern to London (Eventim Apollo, September 21).

The US remains out of reach for now. Singer Önen holds a Turkish passport; the visa situation isn’t resolved. 2027 is the target.

Whether this is Nevermore is not ultimately for Loomis and Williams to decide. Or Jim Sheppard. That’s for the people who show up.