Guitarist JEFF LOOMIS (ex-NEVERMORE) has locked himself in the studio for the past few months perfecting his sophomore solo record, to be released later this year. After his departure from Nevermore and the release of his solo debut - Zero Order Phase in 2008 - fans have been craving a new album. With a number of influential musicians appearing on the upcoming release, Loomis is more than ready to deliver.

Details on two NAMM appearances have also been announced. Jeff comments:

“A couple of years ago I achieved my childhood dream of releasing a solo album. With the releasing of my second record coming up, I’m proud to announce another dream come true… or should I say dreams… MARTY FRIEDMAN, TONY MACALPINE and Chris Poland (MEGADETH) have all done guest solos for it. These guys must have given me hundreds of blisters on my fingers when I was a kid trying in vain to emulate their work. Hell, I’m still trying to figure out some of their solos. To have three guitar players that I looked up to as a young player and still hold in such high regard is simply amazing. I can’t thank those guys enough.

In other news, I’ll be down in Southern CA next week for this year’s NAMM show. I have two new Schecter models that I’ll be showing and I’ll be doing a signing Saturday, the 21st, at their booth at 1 PM as well as another one later that day with Engl Amps at 5 PM. Also, I just confirmed a full US tour for April. I can’t wait to get back out on the road again. More details on that soon.”

Loomis is currently working on his upcoming as-yet-untitled solo album, to be released by Century Media in the spring of 2012, at Fastback Studios, located in Seattle, WA.

Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman recently checked in with the following update: "Just banged out a solo for my bro Jeff Loomis' new album. He's a monster player, and he played some real cool stuff on my Future Addict CD."

In the video clips below, Loomis records acoustic guitar parts for the new album:

Loomis returned to the studio at the end of August to record his sophomore solo album with key players contributing to the release. Aaron Smith (7 HORNS 7 EYES) will be producing the album.

Loomis commented: "He [Smith] has been a friend for a while now and has helped me out with various recording projects over the years. We've been working on demos and pre-production for the past few weeks and are very happy with the way things are turning out."

Loomis has also enlisted a group of musicians to back the project. Dirk Verbeuren of SOILWORK will be tracking drums, and Shane Lentz will be handling bass.

Loomis further comments: "Doing drums, as most of you know, is Dirk Verbeuren. I don't think there's really anything else I can add to that. His name just sort of speaks for itself. Up until about 2 weeks ago, I was planning on doing the bass parts myself but then saw this amazing bass player on YouTube and said to myself, 'I need to have him on the record'. I got in touch and was thrilled to find out he was into it. I'm really looking forward to hearing what he's going to be bringing to these songs."

In addition, Loomis plans on collaborating with a handful of other vocalists and musicians including Christine Rhodes, who previously contributed to Nevermore's Dreaming Neon Black album.