Nashville is a city that has never been short on storytellers, but the band MNERVA (comprised of duo Matt Wagner and Eric Vatima) is working hard to go against the typical grain. With From Beginning To End, they deliver a debut album that feels less like a collection of random songs and more like a full-length emotional film. For those who have an intimate knowledge of MNERVA, it comes as no surprise as — throughout the years — they have often incorporated many live elements that feel cinematic and theatrical.
The debut is a high-energy concept record, built from the wreckage of a real breakup.
From Beginning To End plays out with the kind of drama most modern rock bands rarely attempt. Sitting at the intersection of familiar yet freshly charged, the album channels early 2000s pop punk urgency through a modern alt-rock lens, with emotive rap-leaning vocals reminiscent of Linkin Park. It’s a lot, so buckle up. The guitars are sharp, the hooks hit hard, and beneath the volume, there’s a surprising vulnerability. To put it bluntly, it’s loud music made by someone who clearly had a lot to get off his chest.
Frontman Matt Wagner, whose relationship ending in 2021, is the backbone of this entire project. Instead of distilling that experience into a single track, Wagner and co-writer Kory Shore stretch it 14 times over into a full narrative arc, tracing Matt’s relationship from its earliest rush to its slow collapse and complicated aftermath. Wagner has said he came up with the album’s title just 30 minutes after the breakup ended and the urgency of that moment still pulses through the record. Writing and recording became a form of survival, a way to stay busy while his ground was giving out beneath him.
Personally, I think his strategy paid off.
That sense of structure is one of the album’s defining strengths. From Beginning To End is meant to be heard in sequence. Early songs glow with optimism, capturing the heady belief that you’ve finally found your person; “You And Me” stands at the emotional summit, the moment everything still feels possible; “Circles (18 Months)” is when you realize it’s all for naught. These snapshots of specific moments are scenes that listeners can surely recognize from their own lives. For, MNERVA isn’t interested in generalized sadness; they’re chasing the uncomfortable clarity of hindsight.
Even with that narrative focus, the album is packed with songs that could easily live on their own. “Ghost in the Shell” and “Detox” stand out as immediate highlights for me, balancing aggression and melody with a confidence that suggests artists hitting their stride. It’s rare for a concept record to also double as a singles machine, yet MNERVA manages to thread that needle perfectly.
Much of that cohesion comes from producer Andrew Gomez, whose work with Girlfriends, John Harvie, and Davvn has helped define a sleek, modern rock aesthetic for the duo. Gomez gives MNERVA the raw, cinematic sound he’s been chasing for years.
The production never dulls the emotion; it sharpens the impact.
Ultimately, From Beginning To End feels like a statement of arrival stemming from a goodbye, in a sense that it puts MNERVA so much more on the map than before. For many in Nashville, who have watched MNERVA grow over the years, it’s certainly a breakthrough — the moment where the tires hit the pavement.
For a project that fuses rock, hip hop, and a touch of musical theatre, this album is a sonic thesis. More importantly, it makes MNERVA’s growth undeniable. If From Beginning To End is MNERVA’s opening chapter, it’s hard not to feel that a much bigger story is about to follow.
MNERVA – “All In”
Track listing:
- Beginning
- You And Me
- All In
- My Friends Don’t Like You
- Give It All
- Circles (18 Months)
- Intermission
- 1 + U
- One More Night
- Detox
- Ghost In The Shell
- Impossible
- Happy Ending
- End
Stream ‘From Beginning To End’ album:
Links: Facebook | TikTok | Instagram | Website
Share this article
or
Disclaimer: All views presented in this album review are those of the reviewer and not necessarily those of Top Shelf Music.
Get music updates in your inbox