CD/DVD Releases: Upcoming Lion Music 19th August 2011 Releases
Lion Music are proud to introduce the debut release ProgXpriMetal from Vargton Projekt, a new band based around some of the finest musical talents to have emerged in recent years from Sweden in guitarist Mats Hedberg, Grammy winning drummer Morgan Ågren and vocalist Björn Jansson set for release on 19th August 2011.
ProgXpriMetal as the title may suggest is a varied and special release that will satisfy the extremist metal and hard rock fan and Zappa freaks too with its wide ranging sound.
The seeds for what would become Vargton Projekt started 2006 when Mats Hedberg (BFH) contacted Morgan Ågren (Frank Zappa/Mats Morgan band) to collaborate together after hearing his drumming on a Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) album. Mats sent some rough demos which caught Morgan’s ear and the pair decided to collaborate on an album together.
Recordings started 2007 in May at Morgan’s Studio Annanstans (Stockholm/Sweden) where all drums and basic guitar tracks where recorded. The sessions continued on five other occasions throughout 2008-2010 by the end of which the recordings where ready to be mixed in September 2010 at OSD Studios (Bologna/Italy) by Nicola Venieri, and was mastered in March 2011 by Claes Persson at CRP Studios (Stockholm/Sweden).
The original thought for the album was to be an instrumental CD but Mats had an idea to ask one of Sweden's finest metal vocalists Björn Jansson (Tears Of Anger / Ride The Sky) to put some vocals on selected tracks with the result in Mats's own words being "Amazing!." Keyboardist Hans Lundin (Kaipa) was asked to play on 3 tracks and another important element for the sound came from the animal voice of percussionist Giovanni Imparato (Paco de Lucia) from Naples. Alessandro Gwis contributed additional basic keyboard parts and some electronical stuff which added a further dimension to the music whilst Lars Eric Mattsson performs some guest guitar solo duels with Mats on track 7.
Stylistically ProgXpriMetal is high output heavy guitar and drum oriented music with modern nods to the likes of King Crimson and Mahavishnu Orchestra. Yet there are also deft moments of subtlety and atmospheric passages all of which manages to sound open and inviting to the casual listener.
Vargton Projekt have produced an intoxicating blend of progressive thinking and intelligent design and make ProgXpriMetal not only one of the most original releases you will hear in 2011 but one of the most musically satisfying.
Full album information, pre-order online and streaming audio at: www.lionmusic.com/cd/progxprimetal.htm
Lion Music is also proud to introduce the release of a special edition of Sonata Arctica guitar whiz Elias Viljanen's 2002 debut solo release Taking The Lead.
This new special edition re-release sees the original 12 track instrumental tour-de-force packaged with the added bonus of a professionally shot previously unreleased 7 track live DVD entitled Evil Spirit Live which contains material from Elias' 2 solo albums released on Lion Music.
The live DVD is something long requested by fans of Elias' solo works and we are proud to be able to introduce this added bonus which allows guitar fanatics worldwide the chance to experience Elias formidable technique live and up close.
Some 9 years after original release Taking The Lead is still regarded as one as one of the best debuts of instrumental rock/metal guitar to have emerged in the 21st century from a then unknown guitarist, and Elias has built a reputation that has seen him advance into the upper tier of hard rock shredders founded on the solid foundations of this debut solo release.
Fans of highly charged guitar instrumentals will find much to enjoy within Taking The Lead thanks to its heavy dose of melody intertwined with the thrilling guitar flash and virtuosity for which Elias is known. The quality of material saw the album upon original release end up with a top 10 rank in guitar9.com’s 2003 end of year best sellers chart. The album even attracted the attention of one Steve Vai who had gotten hold of the album and subsequently sent Elias some positive feedback on the release.
The new dual CD+DVD version of Taking The Lead hits the streets on 19th August 2011.
Full album information, pre-order online and streaming audio at: www.lionmusic.com/cd/takingthelead.htm
[Source: Lion Music]
