Elias Viljanen has been touted as Finland's answer to Joe Satriani, and his debut CD, Taking The Lead, advances the guitarist into the upper tier of hard rock shredders from the energetic opening tracks "Evil Rock" and "The Axemaster". Reviewer Nicky Baldrian was one of the first to call out this hot guitar player when he wrote, "Elias Viljanen is simply put the best guitarst I have heard since Toshi Isada burst onto the scene. Elias reminds me one minute of Vai, George Lynch, Nuno Bettencourt, and Reb Beach and the next minute he is spraying us with giant slabs of neo-classical burn outs that one would normally associate with the likes of Marty Friedman, Jason Becker and Paul Gilbert. The album is just breathtaking. The playing on the first three songs is out of this world and has left me totally gobsmacked. This is a guitar album everyone should own." Instrumental Guitar (Electric (Heavy)/Hard Rock/Shred), total running time, 43:12 - Elias Viljanen @ iTunes!