Jeff Loomis: skull n' bones interview

We are obviously here to talk about the new Nevermore album, "The Obsidian Conspiracy." Now it's only been out in the United States for a week, but the rest of the world has had the album a little longer, and the fans are really loving this record. How happy are you with the response so far?

It's been pretty cool man. Obviously, this is a different Nevermore album from our point of view. The music is a little less complex, the songs are more structured, the chorus's come in quicker, I mean it's a more straight forward album than we've ever done. But yea, the response has been amazing. It's still a little early to see, but we can't complain so far with what we are hearing. We have been playing festivals in Europe recently, and we've already seen fans singing every word to the new stuff, so that's pretty nuts.

In a lot of people's minds, "This Godless Endeavor" was the defining Nevermore album. After the success with that album, and the five year absence, did you feel any added pressure in writing this album?

A little bit honestly. That was an awesome record, and we could have easily done a "Godless Endeavor II," but as an artist you always want to do something different. Especially with Nevermore, each record we've done has been something different. But yea it was a little bit crazy. I didn't really know which approach I wanted to take and I was having a bit of writers block in 2009. Honestly, I just said "Fuck it," and I sat down at my studio and just wrote whatever came out of me. I played from my heart and soul, and whatever came out is what I recorded. That is all I could really do, and now it's the new album, so that's pretty crazy

. full interview