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REVIEWS:

Mattsson: Tango

Melodic/Progressive Rock/Metal

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Lion Music
www.larsericmattsson.com
www.myspace.com/larsericmattsson
Review: Craig Hartranft, 03.14.2010

Lion Music founder and chief may have out done himself with his fifth Mattsson recording Tango. I'll go out on a limb here and say that this work could be the best thing he has ever done. With over 70 minutes of music Tango is an epic tour de force of ingenious arrangements for some great melodic progressive rock with metal nuances. Once again, Mattsson recruits Adrienn Antal (from Mattsson's 2008 Dream Child) on vocals, and compliments her with the more assertive style of Markku Kuikka (Status Minor). The skill of Mattsson's musicianship is unparalleled especially with his clever tandem use of guitar and keyboard. His neo-classical influences remain and permeate Tango, as do his rich use of ethnic themes.

However, the real brilliance here is the sheer magnitude of the song arrangements, something Mr. Mattsson has mastered eloquently. Never Stand Down, Tour De Force, and the exquisite The Grand Escape are profound works filled depth and excitement. Adding cleverness to his creativity on the title track, Mattsson tickles our ears and treats us with a tango enhanced with a metal theme. Indeed, Mattsson's Tango is magnificent career defining moment for this excellent composer, and an amazing listen. With the depth of composition, it will take you more than a few listens to digest, but it's worth every minute. Highly recommended.

www.dangerdog.com

Tango

(Lion Music - 2010)

Lars Eric Mattson presents Tango, his 5th album. On 7 songs Adrienn Antal sings, who was already did Dreamchild in 2008 with Mattsson and at some songs Status Minor singer Markku Kuikka joins in.
The opener Never Stand Down introduces Adrienn Antal, a symphonic progressive tune. Some complex passages are woven into the symphonic sound, but you'll also find a short reggae reference as well as prog / art rock elements. And the song has some catchy melodies to hook up the listener. At Believe Markku Kuikka joins Adrienn Antal in this catchy symphonic melodic metal tune where Mr. Mattsson shows that he knows well to balance catchiness and showing off skills. Lars Eric Mattsson plays all instruments beside drums and percussion which were done by Eddie Sledgehammer. At Tango he combines a tango rhythm with symphonic sounds and lascivious vocals of Adrienn. With more then 10 minutes The Grand Escape is a kind of short rock opera which takes you onto a sonic journey incl. spacy and Oriental sounds. Hopefully Mattsson will do another concept album after War, a full rock opera one day. At the heavy, riff-based progressive tune Shadows Markku Kuikka takes over the lead vocals. Some kind of progressive power metal. At The Fire Is Burning Mr. Mattsson takes over the lead vocals on this neo-classical one. The instrumental Tour De Force gives Mattsson space to pursue different ways. The closer Slave To The Road is a bluesy tune which is a nice closer. A really enjoyable tune!
Lars Eric Mattsson proofs that you can combine virtuosity with melody, that progressiveness and heavy riffs move along well symphonic elements. Tango offers a lot of different sounds, but sounds homogenous as well. The voices of Adrienn Antal and Markku Kuikka match well and the singers can give the compositions something special. Kudos!

Claudia Ehrhardt www.ice-vajal.com

Lion Music / March19th 2010

www.larsericmattsson.com
.myspace.com/larsericmattsson

1. Never Stand Down.
2. Believe.
3. Tango.
4. The Grand Escape.
5. I’ll Find Another Way.
6. Shadows.
7. The Scream of My Soul.
8. The Fire is Burning.
9. Chain Me.
10. Tour De Force.
11. Slave to the Road.

Adrienn Antal – Lead and backing vocals.
Markku Kuikka – Lead and backing vocals.
Lars Eric Mattsson – Guitars, bass, keyboards, sitar, lead and backing vocals.
Eddie Sledgehammer – Drums and percussion..
The Astral Strings and Woodwinds

MATTSSON - TANGO

Guitarist/composer Lars Eric Mattsson has to be one of the hardest working musicians in the business, rarely a year goes by without a release in one guise or another whether it be under his solo name, one of a number of projects or as in the case with ‘Tango’ the moniker Mattsson.

‘Tango’ marks the fifth album to be released under the Mattsson name and as with previous releases it follows the melodic prog metal vein but with infusions of symphonic, neo-classical and ethnic touches. But a few cursory listens reveals that Mattsson has managed to pull all these tonalities into a cohesive unit and with extra listens the album really shows its worth developing into probably the best offering to date under the Mattsson handle.

For the 11 tracks Lars has got heavier, yet at the same time more melodic with some quite wonderful 7 string guitar riffery, coupled with some complex arrangements that manage to remain easily digestible yet mind blowing at the same time – the final 2 mins of opener ‘Never Stand Down’ see Mattsson do things with time signatures not even Dream Theater could comprehend and its immensely captivating.

Vocals once again come from Hungarian female singer Adrienn Antal (who first appeared on the Mattsson ‘Dreamchild’ album) and her voice is balanced out with male vocals from Status Minor vocalist Markku Kuikka and Mattsson himself - and there are a lot of vocal performances to enjoy especially on the more straightforward numbers like ‘Believe’ with its marvellously impassioned vocal and catchy melodies which work nicely with the sitar. The title track is unique taking the basis of ‘Tango’ music and throws it into a metal framework. The final result is catchy with an almost metal meets Abba pop sensibility about it and will be stuck in your head for hours afterwards.

Elsewhere the variety on offer is impressive with each track serving up something new with other highlights coming in the guise of the 10:45 epic ‘The Great Escape’ which offers up everything and the kitchen sink in its arrangement and the full on metal attack of ‘Shadows’ although I’d like the vocals a little louder here but otherwise the album sounds very good. Mattsson's guitar on the whole album sounds the most inspired he has for sometime, and his guitar tone is also better than on the last few releases. The drum work of Eddie Sledgehammer is nothing short of spectactular but its the overall quality of arrangements that take centre stage on 'Tango'.

Overall Mattsson always serves up a veritable smorgasbord of material on each album, yet with ‘Tango’ the overall quality is high throughout and is a highly recommended starting place for anyone yet to hear Mattsson distinctive trademark sound.

Hot Spots : Never Stand Down, Believe, Tango, Shadows

Rating : 90%

Go to the reviews archive for all reviews to date

www.virtuosityone.com

MATTSSON..'TANGO'

(Lion Music) Reviewed February 12th 2010

Lars Mattsson is a highly experienced virtuoso guitarist and musician with a long history, and this is his second album with the most delectable of singers, Adrienn Antal, with her ravishing rich voice. She is joined on some songs by the rock voice of Status Minor singer Markku Kuikka. Lars plays and produces everything apart from the wonderfully named Eddie Sledgehammer on drums and the Astral Strings and Woodwinds. ‘Never Stand Down’ sets out his stall and shows the eclectic nature of Mattsson’s music - reggae verse, symphonic chorus, prog flourishes, lightning guitar solos, blues strut, in short the kitchen sink. ‘Believe’ is a very melodic groovy catchy song, which heads off in all directions, followed by ‘Tango’, which is great fun, I’d certainly like the last tango with Adrienn! Mini rock opera ‘The Great Escape’ starts with allsorts, then sitar on the verse, powerful symphonic chorus, synth and guitar solos, then groovy and balladic AOR rock, you cannot get bored listening to this! ‘I’ll Find Another Way’ is a lovely ballad, while Markku gets a good run out on the complex Dream Theatre type prog rock of ‘Shadows’. ‘The Scream of My Soul’ has a subtle jazzy flavour, ‘Fire is Burning’ is superb Toto style rock with Lars on vocals, and ‘Chain Me’ is another great ballad with a Latin feel and tasty fretless bass. The last two tunes are firstly ‘Tour De Force’, Lars has behaved himself up to now, this is his chance to show off on guitar and keys, and finally ‘Slave to the Road’ which is a fun groovy bluesy Steely Dan’ish encore, I suddenly remembered who Markku reminded me of, Colin Blunstone. Tango is a massive improvement on the last album Dream Child, which tended to get lost in prog excursions, and Eddie Sledgehammer sounded like he was demolishing a brick outhouse. This one is far more like Edenbridge, featuring great songs with prog flourishes, rather than the other way round. Tango is a fantastic record with more musical ideas in one song that most bands have in their entire careers, so if you like melodic rock, prog and symphonic rock then this will have you tangoing down to the nearest record emporium on March 19th, when it hits the shelves. Yes, I’ve been Tango’d by this one so 9/10 (Reviewed by Phil) ravenheartmusic.com

Mattsson: Tango

Our Take

Musician/composer Lars Eric Mattsson has been releasing music under his last name since the late 1980’s using his last name as a stage moniker, and his material has often straddled the line between progressive rock and metal. Some listeners found his last album Dream Child to be a little too prog oriented and found that some of the instrumentals clashed with the vocal arrangements. Mattsson seems to have taken notice of this, as his newest effort Tango attempts to balance the progressive rock/metal moments with more commercial and accessible hard rock. And despite the fact that the effort drags in places, it is still a standout effort that listeners are sure to enjoy.

Tango once again finds Mattsson collaborating with vocalist Adrienn Antal, which was a smart move as her voice has quite a bit of range and is sure to attract listeners to the songs that she is featured on. A male singer has also been added into the mix this time around, as Status Minor singer Markku Kuikka is given the spotlight at times. His voice adds some slightly darker tones to the material, and while there are a few moments where it feels out of place (mainly when he serves as backup to Antal rather than taking the lead) his performance is still noteworthy. While the emphasis is often still placed on the instrumental arrangements, having two singers helps to reinforce that Lars Eric Mattsson wants to reach out to a slightly more mainstream audience and this should give his material more exposure.

The instrumentals often straddle the line between progressive metal, progressive rock, and traditional hard rock. While Tango has some of the heaviest riffs that Lars Eric Mattsson has written to date, it is worth mentioning that this is not the focus of many of the songs. Instead, Mattsson places emphasis on melodic riffs and moves between relatively simplistic songs and technically intricate ones that are constantly changing in style. Admittedly some of the more traditional songs feature some repetitive moments, but this isn’t that big of a deal considering the wealth of interesting instrumental arrangements offered on the other tracks. In addition to some impressive technical guitar work there are also some melodies that seem to be influenced by various musical styles from around the world. Everything is combined very well, and despite the slight repetition most listeners will find themselves enjoying the entire hour that the album lasts for.

Lars Eric Mattsson has been creating music for over two decades now but he certainly doesn’t seem to be running out of ideas. Tango can certainly be considered one of the better albums he has put out, and if you’re interested in progressive metal/rock that also has some hints of neoclassical and world music influences then this will be an album you will want to pick up. It is still early in the year, but Tango is currently one of my favorite prog albums of 2010 and is proof that the genre doesn’t have to be too focused on constant technical wankery and can instead just offer great songwriting.

http://www.lionmusic.com/

Chris Dahlberg www.cosmosgaming.com

February 28, 2010

Mattsson, Lars Eric - No Surrender + Live (8/10) - Finland - 2009

Genre: Neo-Classical Metal / Melodic Metal
Label: Lion Music
Playing time: 76:39
Band homepage: Mattsson, Lars Eric

Tracklist:

Introduction

Mattsson: Tango

Melodic/Progressive Rock/Metal

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Tango (Lion Music - 2010)

Mattsson: Tango

Our Take

Tango

(Lion Music - 2010)