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I was thrilled to see Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis put out an instrumental solo record. Loomis is one of the top five shredders I’ve seen play live. (The others are Moyses Kolesne, Trey Azagthoth, Alex Skolnick, and the guy from Revocation.) Those spidery, dexterous fingers were made to play spidery, dexterous riffs. And Zero Order Phase (Century Media, 2008) is wall-to-wall spidery, dexterous riffs.
In fact, it’s exactly what one would expect: a Nevermore album without Warrel Dane singing, and with even more guitar-ness. It’s also a chance to use song titles inappropriate for Nevermore, like “Cashmere Shiv” and “Opulent Maelstrom.” The latter could describe the entire record. It’s full of layered guitars, harmonized solos, and general self-indulgence. But despite his “shredder tone” (think Guitar Center), Loomis, to my mild disappointment, writes actual music. (I’m masochistically drawn to the use of guitar as a drill. Of John McLaughlin, Frank Zappa once said, “The guy has certainly found out how to operate a guitar as if it were a machine gun.”) He’s not as catchy as Joe Satriani or Steve Vai, but the melodies often stick.
Loomis enlists a few illustrious guests. Ron Jarzombek does his tech-skronk thing on “Jato Unit.” (The new Lamentations of the Flame Princess blog has the world’s longest interview with Jarzombek here, and an excellent exposition on instrumental metal here.) Former bandmate Pat O’Brien of Cannibal Corpse appears on “Race Against Disaster.” “Cashmere Shiv” has the best cameos. Fretless bassist Michael Manring turns in some wacky breaks, and producer Neil Kernon, whose discography ranges from Cannibal Corpse to Hall & Oates, contributes fretless guitar!
Super-slick and compressed-sounding, Zero Order Phase is hardly soulful. Then again, shred guitar is rarely about soul. In fact, part of its magic is how incredibly unsoulful it is, especially when its purveyors think they’re being soulful. The gently over-the-top Loomis mostly avoids such irony. His solo record easily bests the other one this year from Nevermore, Warrel Dane’s. (Half of Dane’s band came from Soilwork, and the record merely sounded like him singing over later Soilwork.) As with most side projects, though, it’s inferior to the main gig. Here’s hoping Loomis and Dane are done with diversions; Nevermore is more than the sum of their parts.
I think this might be the first time anyone has used the word “catchy” to describe Steve Vai.
Yes, “catchy” is a minefield. For what it’s worth, here are the hits counts for these Google searches:
“joe satriani” catchy: 35,700
“steve vai” catchy: 22,800
buckethead catchy: 14,400
“jeff loomis” catchy: 580