The future of Jeff Loomis
To start off the new year Jeff Loomis announced his departure from Arch Enemy. I was listening to Arch Enemy before Jeff Loomis joined or at least I knew of them. I was first introduced to Jeff Loomis through a guitar instructional video. Which naturally led me to seek out his music and for awhile he was one of my top influences. I would say that Jeff Loomis, Jason Richardson, and a friend of mine really inspired me to go the extended range guitar route.
When Jeff Loomis joined Arch Enemy, I really stopped listening to his stuff one because it was holder and two because Arch Enemy wasn’t a favorite of mine. I would go so far as to saying that being in Arch Enemy was a waste of his talent and the band limited him quite a lot. I am looking forward to the future with Jeff Loomis out of that band and I hope he explores that and finds something that can really showcase his talents.
I always viewed Jeff Loomis as a 7-string guitar slinger and recently he came out with a new 7 string guitar model. I do believe that is a precursor to what the future holds. As for the why he decided to leave, He simply stated that it’s time for him to “enter a new chapter in my life.”