Time Signature Land of dreams...

Genre: progressive metal

Gutiar virtuoso and owner of Lion Music, Lars Eric Mattsson, has a shitload of albums under his belt – both as a solo artist and as a member of acts like Book of Reflections, Vision, and Condition Red. While there is no doubt that he is incredibly gifted and that, though Lion Music, he has made a tremendous effort in keeping progressive metal, neoclassical metal, hard rock, and melodic metal alive, I think that the quality of his output is varied. In 2011, he released the instrumental album ”Aurora Borealis” which I found underwhelming, while his 1998-album ”Obsession” (reissued last year) is absolutely brilliant.

This year, he released ”Epicentre”. While following the neoclassiclly oriented ”Aurora Borealis”, ”Epicentre” does not follow up on ”Aurora Borealis”. While the preceding album was quite onesided, this one is multifacetted, as Mattsson explores a range of expressions and vistas. Thus, we are treated to tracks, like 'Cinnamon' or the swinging 'Too Late', while others, like 'No Way, No Surrender' and 'Wait for the Sunrise' as well as the heavy 'Freedom Fighters' and 'No More War' are all out prog metal attacks in the form of complexly structured flurries of passages and sections. Also in the progressive metal department, 'Land of Dreams' and 'Mirror' both explore eastern music, the latter also being nicely funky. There is enough variation on the album that the 18 tracks never get tiresome to listen to.

Also, while Mattsson is obviously a guitar shredder – and there are loads of guitar acrobatics of all sorts on the album – we are not dealing with a purely instrumental album. In fact most of the tracks feature vocals delivered by Mattsson himselft. His husky singing style may not please everybody, but it does its job. Needless to say there is nothing wrong with the musicianship and, all the more impressively, Mattsson plays all instruments with the exception of the drums (which, sadly, suffer a bit from the production – I think that the drums could have been more prominent in the mix and that they could have had a more organic sound).

Anyway, like ”Obsession”, ”Epicentre” captures Mattsson at his best and shows that there is more to his creativity than just neoclassical shredding. In other words, we are dealing with a fine progressive metal album which is enjoyable almost all the way through.

Time Signature And the road goes on...

Genre: progressive metal/hard rock

Having released "Aurora Aborealis" in 2011, which I thought was a bit too minimaslitic in terms of everything but the lead guitar, Lars Eric Mattsson is now rereleasing 1998's "Obsession", which is a release that appeals much more to me - actually, its a very good album which definitely deserves some more exposure, so it's great that it gets rereleased.

Stylistically "Obsession" is perhaps best described as mildly progressive melodic metal with hard rock tendencies. Rather than just being a lead guitar and then something in the background, this album has much more of an actual band feel. The rhythm guitar is prominent and offers a lot of interesting riffs - some of which are more in the vein of hard rock and others are almost kind of power metallish, and - which is something I have a weakness for - there are even some galloping riffs every now and then. Featuring Björn Lodin's rough-edged voice, "Obsession" has a very 80s-90s hard rock edge to it, which I really like. It all comes together very well. Just check a track like 'Messenger' (which also features some Eastern elements) or the galloping prog power metal tracks 'Caught in Your Web' and 'Alive' or the highway-friendly 'Long Way Home'. 'Time and Again' has a nice funk rock feel to it, while a track like 'Sense and Obsession' is a heavy and melancholic ballad with a bluesy feel to it.

Now, Lars Eric Mattsson is of course quite the guitar guru, and, needless to say, this album is full of blazing, shredding and sweeping guitar solos with a neoclassical touch, many of which will leave many a guitar enthusiast drooling for more. But, and this is what I really like about it, his lead guitars never seem forced, and they fit neatly into the overall synergy of the album. In many ways, "Obsessions" reminds me of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, but with more of an edge to it (especially with the inclusion of keyboards and neoclassicisms). Coming from me, a fan of Rainbow and an admirer of Blackmore as a guitarist, this is meant as a huge compliment.

Remixed and remastered, the production is quite good. It still has that 80s-90s hard rock feel to it, but there is no noise and no fuzziness, and, overall, the sound is crisp and crystal clear.

Fans of melodic metal and hard rock with a progressive touch should hurry out and acquire "Obsessions", which is a massively melodic release documenting Mattsson's unique abilities as a guitarist and his solid songwriting skills. Guitar lovers everywhere, do yourselves a favor and check out this album.

Time Signature Forward thinking...

Genre: symphonic guitar hero rock/metal

This is pure instrumental guitar hero rock with lots of focus on the guitar, of course. With Mattson's heavy use of violins, cellos, other string instruments, keyboards and a general symphonic approach and very little rhythm guitar and some bass and drums which are, perhaps not minimalistic, then at least not very inspirational, "Aurora Borealis" is probably on the boundary, and for some perhaps beyond, what some people can accept as metal.

Not surprisingly, Mattson has a very neoclassical approach on this album, which means that shredding is inevitable. And there is some pretty impressive and mind-bogling shredding. But, thankfully, Mattson does not only restrict himself to shredding. He also delivers some very melodic solos, and there really is a lot of beautiful, inspiring, and - dare I say - fappable guitar work hear for the guitar fanboy geeks out there.

Although this is a guitar hero thing, and the focus is expected to be on the guitar, I think that the bass and the drums could have been given more attention. That would really have taken this album up to an even higher and more enjoyable level.

Recommended to those who are very passionate about guitar playing - be prepared to be impressed.