By: Sebastien Castelbou
s there somebody able to explain why we didn't heard about Eric Mantel before ? That's a pity, cus this guitar master is making music since about 30 years now! In the pure vein of the G3 (Vai/Johnson/Satriani), the
music played by Mr Mantel on "The Unstruck Melody" is really great. It's some real guitar-virtuoso, wonderfully skilled and full of feeling. Pretty calm but always technical and melodic, the 80 minutes-long opus is a must
have for every single guitar hero addict. Moreover, this is the perfect gathering of all Eric's influences, from jazzy to very bluesy pieces, the album even sounds bluegrass or Indian from time to time. Names that come to
my mind in addition to Satriani or Vai go from Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix or Santana to Bill Monroe, Sting or Stevie Wonder (Only want your love). Not only he's a great composer and musician (using electric & acoustic guitars, guitar synth, talk box, e-bow, slide...), but he can also sing! So that eight tracks among the 20 aren't instrumentals. So what else could I say? This album has been made to push the borders of pop-rock sounding technical music to many different horizons, and I'm sure that every guitar lover will enjoy it. Anyway, I personally do.
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