Jeff Loomis, whose name you know from bands like Nevermore and Conquering Dystopia, joined Arch Enemy in 2014. Loomis played on the band's 2017 record Will To Power but did not contribute to any of the writing. Guitarist Michael Amott said he'd like for Loomis to contribute more to whatever they did next, and predictably Loomis says the new stuff will include seven-string guitar.
In an interview transcribed by Ultimate Guitar about his new signature Jackson Kelly six-string guitar, Loomis says Arch Enemy has historically been a six-string band but would like to change that a bit.
"I mean, the question that's been coming up constantly is, obviously, I was a Schecter artist for many, many years; for like, 13 or 14 years. And after I left Schecter – which was just for a personal reason, you know, I love the guys at Shecter – I just kind of felt like I needed a change and basically what that change for me was is that I'm an avid collector of guitars.
"I've got a lot of Strats, I've got a lot of Gibson Les Pauls, just things that I wanted to play freely and openly, and I have a lot of Jacksons that I bought as well. They're personal instruments of mine, and that's when you noticed that I started playing Jacksons just because I enjoy the instrument. I didn't have a predetermined thing in my mind after I left Schecter that I was going to go to Jackson, I just wanted to be a free agent. It wasn't until I got an invite down there and I wanted to see the facility as well.
"I was really blown away, you know, to work with the likes of Mike Shanin and stuff like that – legendary craftsman – it was really a no-brainer for me. This is the new Jeff Loomis Kelly *shows guitar*, and a lot of people are asking, 'Jeff, you're a seven-string guy, what's up?'.
"Well, I play six-string as well. I play in Arch Enemy; Arch Enemy is a six-string band, and we will work on seven-string stuff in the future. This guitar is really awesome, it's a metal machine, and the neck is really special because it was hand-sanded to my specs in front of me.
"So it was literally being handed back and forth. That took a little while, but that's where the excellence comes in."
So Arch Enemy is going to include seven strings in their future material and Amott is doing some new music with Arch Enemy's original lineup. All of this sounds very heavy and very promising.
