Currently listening to this on their site stream. I'm enjoying it.

It's exactly as I (and many others I'm sure) expected it would be; Keith and the Alexs even bring some of their death metal expertise to the mix here and there.

Hey. That's great.

Fanboy reporting here. Tis good

I guess people really like hearing other people play their instruments well.

This is not for me though. Wanking, clinical, snorefest with barely an ounce of actual songwriting going on. A very long 52 minutes of penis waving. Maybe I've been spoiled by the fact that Last Chance To Reason's newest one has been playing non-stop for the past 4 days, but the difference in memorable and creative progressive metal songmanship is very apparent to me when compared to it.

Both Keith and Jeff's sounds have become incredibly stale. They hardly ever switch up their styles, and many of the riffs Keith wrote for this sound exactly like his compositions from 2 - 3 years ago. It's not a bad album, and as a guitar player I can obviously appreciate the immense amount of technical skill required to pay the way Loomis does, it's just not a very interesting album, and gets old very quickly.

I don't see the point of doing a project like this and then having it sound exactly the same as any of loomis' solo albums. Fantastic musicians without a doubt, but it's like I've heard it all before.

I'm a huge Loomis fanboy but get the feeling of "I've heard it all before" on this one. That and Merrow's rhythm is extremely predictable and seems like it suffers from trying way too hard to be in the big league but just not having the compositional skills it takes to deliver. A little more attention to detail, less dissonance, and more melody would go a long way on something like this.

Great album by awsome musicians. I needed more than 10 listenings to get it at 90 % at less. I'm now at 20 listenings and here's my top :

1. Tethys
2. Ashes Of Lesser Men
3. Totalitarian Sphere
4. Autarch
5. Prelude to Obliteration
6. Destroyer Of Dreams
7. Kufra At Dusk
8. Nuclear Justice
9. Lachrymose
10. Inexhaustible Savagery
11. Doomsday Clock
12. Resurrection In Black

Hope it helps you to appreciate the album

I respect that they can play their instruments well, but they sure as fuck can't write a decent album.

I'll give this a try

They played Prelude To Obliteration, Tethys, Ashes Of Lesser Men, Kufra At Dusk and Autarch on their guitar clinic in Portsmouth and the only thing I can say is, that it was really impressive performance with a lot of interesting comments about the project, personal influences, types how to improve yourself on guitar etc... After many times listen to this record and this show, when I saw this songs shreds in front of me I can say it's really good album, although after first listen I thought it could be much better. Well it could be in some parts, but I didn't realize how much hard work it's behind it.

I'm a guitarist, and I personally have enjoyed listening to Loomis and Merrow's solo work. With that being said I enjoyed this album quite a bit. I wouldn't say that you have to be a musician to appreciate this, but if the lack of vocals typically bores you, this isn't for you. IMO I do feel like the album is geared towards guitarists, though, being that Loomis' lead playing is the focal point of all the tracks. It's nothing groundbreaking but some of the ideas on the album were pretty sick. I'd definitely listen to their next release if that ever happens.

It's undeniably good, but it becomes stale quickly. I feel like the album would have benefited from vocals.

I found this one to grow onto me. First time I listened It was so-so but after a second try I was sold. "Destroyer Of Dreams" is such a killer track!

Nothing impressive about that album!

Not sure what rating I'll end up rating this, but I've become quite disillusioned having hoped that the album would sound as good as the first two - or three - tracks. The solos were tasteless for the most part and at the start of each and every one of them I prayed Loomis got bored playing around with that rigid scale so it would get back to the groovy riffing

Edit: The truth is, no one can write groove like Merrow, and that's what saves this album. I really wish those solos would just dissipate...

Not sure why Jeff decided to make a new band when this could easily have been his next solo album

Written by HyperDrifter on 29.11.2014 at 02:03

Not sure why Jeff decided to make a new band when this could easily have been his next solo album

For one, it's what his fans have wanted quite some time. Secondly, the riffs here have Keith Merrow written all over them

Speaking of Keith Merrow, if anyone likes this album minus the solo wankery they should definitely check out Merrow's solo material. It's far better IMO and available for free over here.

The playthroughs for this album are very enjoyable: