Thursday, August 25, 2011

ELIAS VILJANEN - Taking The Lead


Shredding is a style of music that most people might find repetitive or boring, and can easily be so. Unless you are a guitar player, or a guitar wannabe player of course. Thankfully this is not the case here. This is not a new release, but a re-issue of Sonata Arctica's guitarist debut solo album which was released back in 2002. What makes this album interesting is that the listener will hear actual songs, and not just a constant solo of a talented guitarist. The songs are dominated by the excellent work of Elias Viljanen or course, but there's also room for the other instruments to evolve, and the result in working on both ways. The guitarist can express himself, but also the rest of the band is a vital part of the album. There are slow and faster parts, and there are enough things to like on this one. Melodies, either guitar driver, or from keyboards, are plenty and perfectly worked with absolute no indifferent moments. You don't have to be a guitar player, or a student to appreciate the music here, and this is the beauty of this album. If you haven't heard it all those years, then it's your chance to get it again enriched with a DVD as well.

9/10

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