Mathias Holm Klarin – Dream Catch (digital)

To find any traces of Swedish shredder Mathias Holm’s solo material we have to go way back to 1996. That’s when he released his first album “Pictures Of A Dream”. In 2010 he also released an album with Swedish prog metal band Mindsplit (also featuring members from Madison, Jade, Scudiero/Fatal Smile), but since then little has been heard. Until now. "Dream Catch" starts where “Pictures of a Dream” left off, with a collection of melodic, instrumental guitar music. Mathias has matured a bit in his style and playing, and just like guitarists like Joe Satriani, he aims for the song rather than the shred thrill. Way better in my book! Mathias has a great tone and his sound is clear and powerful. The title track is one of my favorites with it’s nice variations and cool tempo. There are of course some Yngwie:esque twiddling here as well, such as in “Green Water” and “Past Reflecion” with their neo-classical orientation. Killer technique, great tone, impeccable playing, but not as interesting to me as something like “Divine Journey”, where Mathias takes us through a lot of different musical landscapes, from fast shredding, to fusionesque parts to oriental influences. All in all a really nice album from an outstanding guitar player!

Janne Stark

Label: Lion Music

Year: 2017

Country: Sweden

NAKED – End Game (CD)

Swedish melodic rockers Naked released their quite anonymous debut in 2007. It was good, but didn’t hit me that hard. The line-up has now been reinforced by Alien guitarist Tony Borg and former Madison bassist Conny Payne. The band also features singer Peter Sundvall, keyboardist Mats Hedén, rhythm guitarist Mats Stattin and drummer Mikael Wikman. I’m not sure what has happened since the debut (which I obviously need to re-visit), but this feels like a completely transformed band. The opening track didn’t fully convince me at a first listen, as it felt a bit too traditional, but then something happened. First of all, I found little twists and turns I didn’t expect, then it got stuck in my head like a bee to flypaper. Then I discovered something else. This is actually a true AOR album, in the sense – Album Oriented Rock. This album needs to be consumed in its entirety. Every song is like a piece of the puzzle like the classic albums by Boston, Balance, LeRoux etc. Furthermore, killer tracks like Blood Of My Blood, Still In Love With You and Setting Sails may as well have been recorded by one of those late great classic pomp bands of the late 70s/early 80s classic and where Peter Sundvall reminds me quite a lot of Fergie Fredriksen during his time with one of my favorite pomp bands of that era – Trillion. Simply love his voice! The crisp and clear, but still full, production also bears resemblance with that era, but of course slightly upgraded. This album was a really nice surprise! One of the best pomp/AOR albums of 2015!

Janne Stark

Country: Sweden

Label: Escape

Year: 2015

MÅRRAN - 3/4 (CD digi)

Sweden’s most productive band? Probably! Since their debut in 2012, they have released three albums plus a couple of singles and EPs. This, their third effort, entitled 3/4 gives you another collection of groove-oriented, seventies tinged, analogue hard rock of the highest order. For those of you who have missed the band, this is where you now find Malmsteen/Norum/Madison/Karma/etc/etc/ect singer Göran Edman. The difference compared to his other works? Well, besides the obvious musical style, Göran here sings in Swedish. Fits him like a glove! The drums are handled by one of the forefathers of Swedish hard rock, Björn Inge, formerly of hard rock pioneers November. Still bringing the same high quality groove and power (well, actually better now than in the seventies). Guitarist Ludwig Larsson is a great bluesy, yet technical and very tasteful player. Keyboard player Max Lorentz fills out every crack and crevice with his fat Hammond organ, joined by bass player Morgan Korsmoe. Opener Vaggvisan (the lullabye) is a chugging, heavy rocker starting off the album in a perfect way. It actually has quite a strong aura of Deep Purple floating over its head. I en annan värld (in a different world) continues the heavy rock ride and it starts out as the band’s strongest effort to date.  Dårarnas hotel (the lunatics’ hotel) brings it down a bit to a cool flowing pace, but with a powerful bridge adding some power to the brew. Karneval av ljus (Carneval of light) is probably the band’s most up-tempo rocker to date. There’s some cool guitar/keyboard riff interaction going on! One thing I love about this band is their quirky playfulness, which shows in songs like Jag och min skugga (Me and my shadow), När du är död (When you are dead) and especially the riffing in Mårrschottis/Så dum (Mårrschottische/so stupid). An outstanding piece of high-class Swedish retro!

Janne Stark

Label: S-Rock Music Production

Year: 2014

Country: Sweden

Link: www.marran.se