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Artist: ELIAS VILJANEN
Album: "TAKING THE LEAD (CD)"
Year:
2002
Media type:
CD
- Finnish shred metal hero with a great sense for melody [!]
Цена:
20.00 лв. (BGN)
Cat. No.: WIZ00004589
Статус: Артикулът е временно изчерпан! Доставка до 30 дни.
Out of Stock 30 days delivery
ELIAS VILJANEN is a Finnish guitar hero blessed with "Concorde-fast fingers". His recording and live band, dubbed EVIL SPIRIT, comprises guitarist Jukka Talasmaki, guitarist/ keyboard player Jari Koivisto, RECALL bassist Rami Herckman with Tomi Ylonen of RECALL, ROUNDSUN and SNOWBLIND on drums.
Debut album, 2002's 'Taking The Lead' issued through Finnish label Lion Music', was recorded at Phantom Studios in Tampere. The August 2005 album, 'The Leadstar', included guest players fellow guitarist LARS ERIC MATTSSON, Jani Kemppinen on keyboards, Jaan Wessman on bass and Janne Juutinen of MASTERSTROKE and Lacu Lahtinen of SNAKEGOD and HANOI ROCKS on the drums. Oddly this record included a cover version of LIONEL RICHIE's Pop ballad 'Hello'.
Review “Taking The Lead” 2002:
Very rarely these days does an instrumental album come along and knock me for six, so when it does happen the effects are all the more acute. Elias Viljanen (or ‘E.Vil’ for short) is a 27 year old guitar protйgй from Finland who has been defining and refining his craft for the best part of two decades now. A huge fan of people such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, his debut solo album ‘Taking The Lead’ has all the emotion and energy of either ‘Passion And Warfare’ or ‘Surfing With The Alien’, mixed in with something that’s perhaps a little more contemporarily progressive.
As a technician, Viljanen can shred with the best of ‘em, but behind that kerosene fuelled faзade his talents as both songwriter and arranger run to much greater depths. Like his two hero’s, Viljanen has constructed an album filled with a whole range of moods and tempo’s, transcending the usual extended solo workouts to become more like proper songs, albeit songs without vocals.
After the short, explosive opener ‘Evoke The Spirit’ (30 seconds or so of Malmsteenesque shred), Viljanen quickly settles into his stride with the punchy ‘Evil Rock’, a track which has all the guitar histrionics of prime time Vai. Continuing in the same brash manner comes ‘The Axemaster’, a composition structured in exactly the same versus / chorus / verse style you’d expect from any band, only this time Viljanen’s guitar takes the ‘role’ of vocalist. And as you delve further and further into this little box of aural delights, a whole range of moods and passions is brought into play. From the gently meandering ‘I Go Solo’ or the almost whimsical ‘Beyond Twilight’ at one end of the spectrum, to the harder hitting strains of ‘Taking The Lead’ or the funky, Van Halenesque rock ‘n’ roll of ‘Speed Of The Devil’ at the other, Viljanen proves equally adept at whatever he tries.
I have to congratulate Lion Music on finding this guy because on the strength of this release he has a very bright future indeed … now if they can only find a band worthy of his talents, that would be something truly special.
TRACKLIST:
1. Evoke The Spirit
2. Evil Rock
3. The Axemaster
4. I Go Solo
5. Northern Breeze
6. Beyond Twilight
7. Taking The Lead
8. A Dream Come True
9. Hyper Boogie
10. Written In Stars
11. Passion For Glory
12. Speed Of The Devil
LINE-UP:
Elias Viljanen (guitar)
Jukka Talasmaki (guitar)
Jari Koivisto (guitar/ keyboards)
Rami Herckman (bass)
Tomi Ylonen (drums)
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