New Jeff Loomis (Ex Nevermore)

Mr Loomis just released his second Solo album entitled "Plains of Oblivion." This album although very guitar driven is a little different then his previous. He adds some guest musicians and there is vocals spread throughout the album. I streamed this full album and on first listen I was a little disappointed. NOTHING STUCK!! There is some amazing guitar work of course and some sick speed riffs and jazzy breakdowns, but it tends to all fall together as one big song.

Hoping this grows on me because Loomis is one of the best guitar players on the universe IMO, and this leaves me blank :/

No. Title Length
1. "Mercurial" (featuring Marty Friedman)
2. "The Ultimatum" (featuring Tony MacAlpine)
3. "Escape Velocity"
4. "Tragedy And Harmony" (featuring Christine Rhoades)
5. "Requiem For The Living" (featuring Attila Vörös)
6. "Continuum Drift" (featuring Chris Poland)
7. "Surrender" (featuring Ihsahn)
8. "Chosen Time" (featuring Christine Rhoades)
9. "Rapture"
10. "Sibylline Origin"

While I do believe Jeff is an outstanding guitar player, in no way he is at the level of great classic instrumentalists such as Vinnie Moore or Tony MacAlpine, I still prefer that traditional Rock Instrumental songwriting to get me into it (ie verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge simplified style, whilst still maintaining the fretboard pyrotechnics in-between)...yeah, the whole album sounded like one epic guitar solo peppered with exotic unconventional scales(which is a bad thing to my ears), the three vocal tracks weren't that great either

Jeff's style is not tailor-made for instrumental albums, he does it best at half-minute solos...and Check out the opening track, some of Marty's part sounded like Hangar 18 pt. II

Quote :

He adds some guest musicians and there is vocals spread throughout the album.

I didn't know there were vocals on this one. Interesting. I just assumed it was another instrumental. I liked his first solo disc well enough and I'll probably pick this one up too at some point. It's just not a priority at the moment. I'd rather get the new Accept or Overkill first.

EmoElmo wrote:

While I do believe Jeff is an outstanding guitar player, in no way he is at the level of great classic instrumentalists such as Vinnie Moore or Tony MacAlpine, I still prefer that traditional Rock Instrumental songwriting to get me into it (ie verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge simplified style, whilst still maintaining the fretboard pyrotechnics in-between)...yeah, the whole album sounded like one epic guitar solo peppered with exotic unconventional scales(which is a bad thing to my ears), the three vocal tracks weren't that great either

Jeff's style is not tailor-made for instrumental albums, he does it best at half-minute solos...and Check out the opening track, some of Marty's part sounded like Hangar 18 pt. II

I agree with everything here for the most part. Also there was def some Hangar 18 in there from Marty hahaha.... Jeff's first solo album blows this one away IMO. He needs to get back to a band where he can somewhat simplify his creations so that it's not all one big shred fest. That being said, Loomis does it damn well...

Jeff Loomis and others, Alexi Laiho for example, just haven't earned their reputation as "guitar gods" yet. Just because you have a signature model guitar doesn't mean you're the next Joe Satriani or Steve Vai.

Not that he's not good, he is........just not THAT good.

bassman wrote:

Jeff Loomis and others, Alexi Laiho for example, just haven't earned their reputation as "guitar gods" yet. Just because you have a signature model guitar doesn't mean you're the next Joe Satriani or Steve Vai.

Not that he's not good, he is........just not THAT good.

Horses for courses

Satriani may not be as technical but he sure knows how to write a clever ly-put intstrumental melody that uses an effective, minimalistic approach...Vai is a bit more of a hit-and-miss intrumentalist (more than half of his songs aren't even decent IMO) he just plays weird Lydian scales just for the heck of it

I do hope Jeff should stop making a solo album in the future and continue doing what he does best, being in a Metal Band

bassman wrote:

Jeff Loomis and others, Alexi Laiho for example, just haven't earned their reputation as "guitar gods" yet. Just because you have a signature model guitar doesn't mean you're the next Joe Satriani or Steve Vai.

Not that he's not good, he is........just not THAT good.

Jeff Loomis IMO is def a "guitar god" imo.. The man plays like one of you ask me. I'd put him right up there with anyone as far as Im concerned...

MetalRob331 wrote:

bassman wrote:

Jeff Loomis and others, Alexi Laiho for example, just haven't earned their reputation as "guitar gods" yet. Just because you have a signature model guitar doesn't mean you're the next Joe Satriani or Steve Vai.

Not that he's not good, he is........just not THAT good.

Jeff Loomis IMO is def a "guitar god" imo.. The man plays like one of you ask me. I'd put him right up there with anyone as far as Im concerned...

Agree...but I would rather put him on a 'Lead-Guitar God' level, being technically proficient is one thing, how you exploit those technical nuances in order to make a good tune is another

EmoElmo wrote:

MetalRob331 wrote:

bassman wrote:

Jeff Loomis and others, Alexi Laiho for example, just haven't earned their reputation as "guitar gods" yet. Just because you have a signature model guitar doesn't mean you're the next Joe Satriani or Steve Vai.

Not that he's not good, he is........just not THAT good.

Jeff Loomis IMO is def a "guitar god" imo.. The man plays like one of you ask me. I'd put him right up there with anyone as far as Im concerned...

Agree...but I would rather put him on a 'Lead-Guitar God' level, being technically proficient is one thing, how you exploit those technical nuances in order to make a good tune is another

I loved his first album, it was killer... I think he might of tried too hard on this last release....