| CD REVIEW Mattsson |
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Band : Mattsson Living on Finland’s Äland Islands, Lars-Eric Mattsson is a guitarist whom was “discovered” in 1985 by the famous Shrapnel Records owner/ producer Mike Varney. Having been given the opportunity to release a 4-track (7-inch) EP in 1987, Mattsson signed to French label Black Dragon, where he would issue his first 3 solo albums (1988’s Eternity, 1989’s No Surrender, and 1991’s Electric Voodoo). He then formed the band Vision and released the 1992 album Lars-Eric Mattsson’s Vision, which was rather successful, especially in Japan. However, tensions within the band would find a result in started recording sessions being scrapped, and to Vision’s split. Mattsson then joined forces with Baltimoore singer Björn Lodin to form Astral Groove, who released their only self-titled album in 1995. Vision reformed in 1996, releasing the Till The End Of Time album the year after. Mattson then decided to do a solo album again, with 1998’s Obsession as a result. The follow-up solo, 2000’s Another Dimension, would be the first to be released under the simplified monicker of Mattsson. Since then, not including this one, there’s been 3 other albums under the same banner (2003’s Power Games, 2005’s War, and 2008’s Dream Child). At the same time the guitarist also occupied himself with the release of another solo album as Lars-Eric Mattsson (2005’s Earthbound – his first instrumental album in 10 years), one with Vision (2004’s On The Edge), two with Progressive band Condition Red (2000’s self-titled debut and the 2004 follow-up simply titled 2)…a collaboration between himself and keyboardist DerekSherinian, with additional guitar from Alex Masi…and two with super-group Book Of Reflections [including keyboardist Vitalij Kurpij, and singer Andy Engberg of Lion’s Share and Section A fame on the self-titled 2004 album..the 2006 follow-up titled simply 2, had vocals by Tomorrow’s Eve’s Martin LeMar and Ride The Sky/ Tears Of Anger’s Björn Jansson, additional guitar from Anand Mahangoe (Sphere Of Souls & solo) and keyboards played by Mystheria (known as solo artist but also from Bruce Dickinson and Angel Of Eden). Then, and I’m not sure exactly when he started it, but on top of his musical activities, Lars also started his Lion Music somewhere in the late ‘90s, and he’s nurtured that to the point of seeing it become one of the most appreciated labels specialised in Classic Rock, Neo-Classical Rock, and (Sympho) Prog Rock. Returning to the matter of the new Mattsson album, which is a continuation in collaboration between the guitarist and female singer Adrienn Antal (they first worked together on 2008’s Mattsson album Dream Child, a Sympho Prog album which was heralded by both press and fans for its accessibility. Continuing in the same vein as on that album, Tango is said (in the bio we got along with our download promo copy of the album) to be overall heavier (containing “…some of the heaviest riffs and most complex musical to date from Lars…”), without loosing its commercial aspect of accessibility (“…yet within the musical virtuosity there is a common theme of melody…”). Lars himself sees the near 11-minutes as a mini-opera of sorts as the best piece he’s recorded, and definitely different from anything he’s done before in terms of structure. The man also found time to incorporate some humour, mainly in the album’s title track (a Metal take on the typical tango theme, with lyrics!) and the album closing “Slave To The Road” (which seperates itself somewhat from the rest of the track-list in its smoking Blues content – according to the bio, the songs was written in 2003 and originally intended to become part of the Power Games album). To make things even more exciting, LarshasinvitedStatus Minor singer Märkku Kuikka to bring a counter-balance to Adrienn’s power-tower vocals! Still, I guess Lars wouldn’t be whom he is, if he hadn’t also included a nice instrumental with the 7:39 “Tour De Force”. Yeah…there’s some diversity to this album after all, and it’s thàt diversity combined with Mattsson’s cunning melodic songwriter style, which helps the listener getting through the album from start to finish, leaving him/her with the desire to have a new session! In my search to fins websites with music off this album, I didn’t get really far. There’s an album teaser at Mattsson’s MySpace page, and of course you could listen to some samples at Amazon.com, but really each and every one of the album’s songs deserves to be listened to as a whole! So maybe you should go pester your local record shop holder to give you a complete listening session of the album, eh? 90/100 Tony. |