"ARCH ENEMY welcomes Jeff Loomis as their new guitarist"

[Dead Winter]

Tbh, that's not his biggest sin in my eyes. Between interviews with him and talking to former Nevermore members I've pieced it together. Jeff started out as a drummer before switching to guitar. He knows just enough to be dangerous. He writes the drum parts in tandem with the guitar parts. Some times its really obvious -- "Narcosynthesis" for example -- other times not so much. But he pretty much dictated the drum parts to Van.

I don't know any other band like this. Can you imagine Jeff or Kerry trying to tell Dave Lombardo what to play? The closest I can think of is Anthrax, where Charlie writes a lot of the music. Regardless, if Nevermore restarts with Jeff, and Van does not come back due to his wife's health issues, I hope the new drummer pushes back and tells Jeff, in so many words, you don't tell me how to play drums and I won't tell you how to play guitar.

I can totally see the Jeff and Van relationship in the studio and how it affects the songwriting. We're just spitballing here, but it definitely warrants speculation.

 

[Traxan]

I mean, the double kickdrum is everywhere; it's overused, usually mid-paced, and boring. I don't think Van is a bad drummer, just that he seems to limit himself. Whether that's out of habit or choice, I dunno.

That's what kept me away for a long time, and why I left when I saw Nevermore live for the first time (tl;dr version: I went to see their opening act In Flames and had no idea who Nevermore were. I stuck around to check them out and walked after five songs of incessent double bassing made every song run together). I had to listen to the words and use DNB as the gateway.

Kind of ironic that my favorite non-DNB track is "Create the Infinite" because that's a glowing example of everything I criticized Jeff and Van for doing. Can't tell me Jeff's fingerprints aren't all over drumming on that one.

 

[Dead Winter]

The double kick now is so overused that I don't even want to use it anymore in my bands. Of course we still use it with Skylab but that's Emanuele's project and he can do what he wants, but he plays with a lot of imagination anyway so it's not really a factor.

Double bass has become the polka beat (tu-pa tu-pa) in metal these days: overused, lazy, and devoid of imagination. It works when done tastefully.

 

[Dead Winter]

Let me give some perspective.

As far as the shredding goes, I mean, I'm not a shredder. I can't shred. I don't even want to learn to shred.

For about a year I took lessons with one of the best guitarists I've ever seen. He was a good friend of mine and if you wanna look him up he's the lead guitarist in Elvenking. But his duties in Elvenking don't even scratch the surface of what this guy is about. He taught me everything from theory to sweeping to shred to polyrhythms to songwriting to improvisation, but what I really took away from that were the simplest things that I never even thought about. Things like how to think about the guitar, mistakes I was doing with my finger placement, wasting and conserving energy, etc.

One day as I was sitting in my computer room with my guitar, I was warming up and practicing some sweeping. I still wasn't very good at it but I was starting to get the hang of it after only a couple of weeks...and I hated it. I hated how it sounded, I hated how it felt, I hated that I was having to learn scales not for songs or songwriting or theory, but for solos. I hated the sound of other people sweeping. I thought to myself, "Self, WHY am I sweeping? Be honest." And self replied, "Welp, I guess so you can impress people." Then I immediately realized how fucking stupid it was to do it, not because you enjoy the sound or the playing, but because you wanted people to say how good of a guitarist you were. I stopped sweeping right then and there, and realized that after a year with Raffaello I had found what I was looking for all along: where I wanted to go. He got me there and it dawned on me what was right for me and what makes me feel good about playing the guitar. Without him, I probably would still be woodshedding like a guitar nerd in my attic trying to compensate for weaker areas of my playing. I'm not saying everyone who's a shredder does this, but it is very prevalent in the genre.

I used what he taught me as a launching pad to discover everything else on my own and make it my own. I'd like to take a few lessons again to improve my dexterity, which is already pretty good, and I'd like to push myself some more but my rhythm chops are pretty solid and I finally realized that playing fast all the time is actually pretty lazy.

Therefore, when I say I dislike Loomis' style over the last ten years, I'm not denigrating his ability to play or saying what he does is easy or that I can do it better (HA! I wish). I'm just saying it does nothing for me.

 

[stefan86]

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

I wouldn't be surprised at all. Van's playing is literally like a backing track to a guitarist learning how to shred: it's bland, monotonous, and devoid of any imagination. It's fast, but it's there to solo over, that's it. Whether or not that's his fault remains to be seen, because Loomis may very well have pushed him to just hold the rhythm down while he does all the hard stuff and their relationship just bloomed from that. Once you get accustomed to working in a certain environment, when it works you don't wanna change it.

I mean, the double kickdrum is everywhere; it's overused, usually mid-paced, and boring. I don't think Van is a bad drummer, just that he seems to limit himself. Whether that's out of habit or choice, I dunno.

haha dude, you've been posting here forever (like me) and you're a cool guy so don't take this the wrong way, but let's see: you don't like Loomis's playing, you don't like Van's playing, you don't like any NM post EOR....

Can we just agree that you're not a Nevermore fan? Being a fan of a vocalist, a few random songs, and one or two albums and an EP as a whole out of 7 or 8 releases sort of disqualifies you as ever being a "fan" of the band. I'm surprised you've stuck around the forum this long?

And you're right about the talkingbackwards dude. Reminds me of that other guy, I forget his name but he used to post here regularly and every single post was him attacking someone who had a different opinion.

 

[Dead Winter]

You know, you have a good point there. I've actually asked myself the very same question: do I still like Nevermore? I do. I still listen to all the older albums and even TGE every now and then. I just think I've become much more selective and I'm bored of Jeff Loomis. I've got nothing against the guy but I haven't heard anything from him in a long, long time that I would listen to on a regular basis. I'm in the camp that's hoping for a different direction from NM whenever they take off again with whoever plays guitar and drums. I think the old lineup has run its course and doesn't have anything else to say musically, obviously except for Warrel.

I don't dislike any of their releases except for maybe TOC, but it's not that I dislike the entire album, it just doesn't do anything for me.

 

[Talking Backwards]

And you're right about the talkingbackwards dude. Reminds me of that other guy, I forget his name but he used to post here regularly and every single post was him attacking someone who had a different opinion.

Attacking an opinion? So now posting things as facts that aren't is an opinion, and then someone actually posting evidence as to why such claims are false is attacking said opinion?

Got it.

 

[Dead Winter]

And there you go again with your inability to grasp hyperbole used to illustrate a point. It's not that big of a deal, man. Let go of the butthurt.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

Attacking an opinion? So now posting things as facts that aren't is an opinion, and then someone actually posting evidence as to why such claims are false is attacking said opinion?

Got it.

ha

 

[Shpongled]

Board coming back to life

 

[Traxan]

Not really, it's just 3-4 of the same people arguing.

What intrigues me is the huge coverage of the DHiaDW performance. Warrel has done it before, like in Brazil where he hired local musicians. But this talk has every metal site losing its shit wondering who will perform. I expect he'll hire local guys just like before. Not sure why Blabbermouth, Metal Injection, metal Sucks, etc, are all losing their minds over this news.

 

[~Lynn~]

I just think I've become much more selective and I'm bored of Jeff Loomis. I've got nothing against the guy but I haven't heard anything from him in a long, long time that I would listen to on a regular basis. I'm in the camp that's hoping for a different direction from NM whenever they take off again with whoever plays guitar and drums. I think the old lineup has run its course and doesn't have anything else to say musically, obviously except for Warrel.

Something I completely agree with Chris on!

 

[Dead Winter]

Well, to be fair I'd say we're in the majority...so it's me and a slew of others, hehe.

 

[Traxan]

So the gathering has gone down. Notice that Smurfette is not there, although there is an empty plate and seat, and someone had to take the picture.

 

[Dead Winter]

LOL @ Smurfette. That's perfect.

 

[Traxan]

She's letting the blue fade, though.

Post-concert pic. Michael looks strange. I can't wait for videos.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

That's a big ass crowd. Nevermore never could have attracted that many people, and they're a way better band than AE ever were. I don't get it.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

Seriously, just bring back Johan and let Jeff and Mike go nuts and you're fucking golden.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

So the gathering has gone down. Notice that Smurfette is not there, although there is an empty plate and seat, and someone had to take the picture.

Why does Johan have a big bull's eye above his head....