CD Review: Jeff Loomis - Plains Of Oblivion

Written by Colin McNamara Wednesday, 02 May 2012 09:30

Artist: Jeff Loomis
Title: Plains Of Oblivion
Genre: Progressive Metal
Release Date: 6th April 2012
Label: Century Media Records

Album Review

Former NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis has unleashed his second solo album, which is a step up from the previous release ‘Zero Order Phase’. Still strongly set in the vein of extreme, Progressive Metal instrumentals that would appeal to fans of John Petrucci’s solo work and other guitar virtuosos, ‘Plains Of Oblivion’ is a high energy album that is full of majestic solos and excellent rock oriented riffs, such as that on the opening ‘Mercurial’. Of course, Jeff has plenty of help here from guests to help flesh out the album to being more than just another instrumental collection solely performed by the artist himself. One of the more notable guests on the instrumental side is Chris Poland, formerly of MEGADETH, and his trademark sounds does add a bit of Heavy Metal/ Thrash to Jeff’s music. On the downside of such a thing like thing, bringing in other guitarists can somewhat detract or outshine what Jeff Loomis is trying to do on his own. A similar issue happened with John 5 when he had Joe Satriani perform on the rather anthemic ‘Werewolf Of Westeria’ and pretty much the rather simple Rock oriented riff chugging artist was blown away by Satrianai’s more expert solos.

Of course, Jeff mostly keeps his must to his own and as proven on ‘Zero Order Phase’ he can easily match up to anyone he invites onto his albums. Perhaps his most touching piece of music is the brief ‘Rapture’ which is the only “slow” track on the album, yet still highly melodic and progressive without being overly loud. Fans may also be surprised that vocals were included on this album, but not contributed by Jeff Loomis. Many of the tracks here such as ‘Tragedy And Harmony’ feature vocals from Christine Rhoades of MEDDLING GRETEL, whose soft voice is an excellent addition but can somewhat be overshadowed by the heavier guitar passages. On the other hand, former EMPEROR vocalist Ihsahn does a wonderful job at adding his raw screaming when matches up perfectly on ‘Surrender’, making it even rawer than just an instrumental piece by itself. Overall, Jeff Loomis has definitely stepped up his game, wandering into somewhat dangerous territory by inviting numerous guests but still making sure the spotlight is still on him while providing listeners with something fun than just listening to guitar.


Tracklist

01. Mercurial - 5:34
02. The Ultimatum - 4:40
03. Escape Velocity - 4:31
04. Tragedy and Harmony - 5:01
05. Requiem For The Living - 4:52
06. Continuum Drift - 5:39
07. Surrender - 5:35
08. Chosen Time - 4:33
09. Rapture - 2:44
10. Sibylline Origin - 4:35


Line-up

Jeff Loomis- guitars
Shane Lentz- bass
Dirk Verbueren- drums


Website

www.jeffloomis.com


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10


Buy the album here!