NEVERMORE Guitarist: We Came Close To Breaking Up After 'This Godless Endeavor'

NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis was interviewed for the September 2010 issue of Guitar World magazine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On why NEVERMORE took five years to release the follow-up to 2005's "This Godless Endeavor":

"We came really close to breaking up after we finished touring for 'This Godless Endeavor'. We couldn't stand to look at each other anymore. We definitely needed some time away to regroup."

On recording NEVERMORE's new album, "The Obsidian Conspiracy", in a house the band rented in North Carolina on bucolic Lake Norman:

"It was a different approach for us. There was nothing around there for miles. For me, it was almost too isolated. It was really hot and a little overwhelming, and there was nowhere to escape to. But it was okay, because I just did all my guitar parts, then flew home."

On the spontaneity and relative simplicity of "The Obsidian Conspiracy" compared to much of NEVERMORE's catalog:

"It would have been very easy for us to do 'This Godless Endeavor Part 2', which I think people were anticipating and expecting. But that’s the last thing we wanted to do. As artists, you always want to strive to be different and try something new. In the end, Peter [Wichers, producer and SOILWORK guitarist] had a lot to do with cutting the fat out. I would give him a seven- or eight-minute piece of music, and he would help me trim it down to three and a half or four minutes."

"I've always been a big fan of bands like QUEEN. They might have a song that was very melancholy, but then the next song on the album would be very pure and brutal. I think the progressiveness and aggressiveness that our fans have always liked is there on this record, but the songs are just a little bit more whittled down."

On preparing large portions of his lead work for "The Obsidian Conspiracy" in advance:

"We really wanted to see what the songs needed. I wanted to tell stories with the leads, which is why there's not a lot of pure shredding. It's more about creating a feeling that comes from the heart and soul. At the same time, I didn't write out the solos completely, because when you do that it just sounds too worked out to me. So it was about 75 percent worked out and 25 percent 'let's go for it and see what happens.'"

On NEVERMORE's new guitarist Attila Vörös who joined the band's touring lineup after "The Obsidian Conspiracy" was recorded:

"His playing is amazing. He really did his homework, too. He knew exactly what was going on with all the little nuances in the songs. So I invited him over to my house and auditioned him, and I really didn't have to show him much of anything. He just knew what to do. We're all very excited, because he's a great player and a good kid. There's a very good chance that we'll end up making him a full-time member."

Read the entire article from Guitar World magazine.