Some albums sound 'aged' after ten years, but Mattson gets away with it. This is partly due to the explicit style and sound of his playing. A few songs and you'll be fully accustomed to the fat strat sound and Mattson's fingers gliding across the fret board.

I have written before that Mattson not only is a great lead guitarist but can lay down a solid riff as well. Furthermore: it's all Mattson what you get here, since he's played every single instrument on this record: guitars, guitar synthesizer, keyboards, bass, drum programming and whatnot.

All songs were written by the man himself, with a footnote under "Adagio" which was inspired by Albintoni. Once again one can only marvel at his playing, sitting back and enjoying the ride, or for guitarists, as studio or reference material. Not just the technique and compositions are worth while, but this guy's got TONE too! He really makes his strat sing!

Those of you who lost count among the Mattson releases will be interested to know that this album was recorded at the 'old' Lion's Cage in 1990. Furthermore, the title of the original release in the US was "The Exciter" so if you already own that album the titles will probably tell you that you need not buy this.

Maybe the sales of all his albums will encourage Mattson to head back to the studio and record more new material. I for one am glad that Lion Music has re-released this one, and would be very interested to see how much his playing has evolved throughout the years.