PATRIK CARLSSON – Melodic Travel

Patrik Carlsson has been been labeled as being the best guitarist from Sweden since Yngwie Malmsteen. That is a tremendous amount of pressure to live up to. He has admitted that his two biggest influences are Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, and, when listening to his material, inklings of both of these legends do on occasion creep through in his playing. It’s hard, however, to come up with your own sound or distinguishable style of play when such an eclectic ensemble is put together and released as a whole, the case this time being Melodic Travel. The same thing can be said about Patrik’s previous release, Phraseology, back in 2004. Yet after a very popular and promising debut and a two-year hiatus, Patrik (for some reason) has decided to follow that up with the same type of format. Why?

Perhaps Mr. Carlsson’s thinking “don’t fix what ain’t broke,” or a “go with what works” attitude made him stay close to the same format he used the first time around. There could be countless other reasons, however, almost all artists stray from their debut album and go another route when it comes time for their follow-up. Patrik should have made a more concerted effort to try to develop a style and customized sound he could stick with and further develop down the road.

Patrik’s hard work and diligent study throughout his many years of practicing and playing are showcased on both of his releases. It is quite evident from his two albums that Mr. Carlsson has the talent to deliver, he just doesn’t do it here to the greatest extent possible. From Phraseology to Melodic Travel, it is easy to summarize the genre as being Instrumental. Other than that, it’s hard to pinpoint anything else because of the selection of various genres Carlsson has chosen to represent in his latest release.

Patrick’s new release is pretty much consistent all the way through in that it’s hard to follow. In listening to Melodic Travel, there are a number of songs where his playing the piano, bass, or guitar was very noticeable, beautiful, and tasteful. The drumming, however, could have been done differently. Many of the songs presented include that awful drum machine sound to the point where the end product suffers because of it. Patrik should incorporate the drums into his songs in a different fashion in order to alleviate that artificial drum sound. There are many decent songs on Melodic Travel, but overall it just doesn’t flow smoothly like it should from someone with so much talent.

Here is what you can expect from Melodic Travel: “Settler’s Pleasure” and “Battlefield” – Both have that awful drum machine sound; one tune sounds like it’s going to get heavy, but unfortunately doesn’t; the other opens with a guitar attack like that of Satriani’s, but this so-called virtuoso can’t sustain this level for more than a few seconds; playing a few arpeggio’s up and down the fretboard just doesn’t cut it; the bass is too low; the horn arrangement was a nice touch. “Kristina’s Song” and “Caribbean Uptempo” start out slow but turn out to be good songs. “Liberty City” has a nice Bluesy/Jazzy sound. “LuxianMinor,” “Desederia,” “Naboo,” “Spanish Vaganza,” and “Silence” all are decent in their own right.

“Gate To Heaven” -– mellow at first, but don’t get fooled; this is by far the best thing Patrik has done; the piano is beautifully played, followed by guitar work that for the first time has feeling to it (Carlos would love this song); 10 stars; Vai shines through on this one; worth the entire price of the CD just for this one tune.

“Archipelago Blues,” “Night Vision,” “The Great A,” and “Hip ‘n Melodic” – Funky or Jazzy tunes that you can take or leave depending upon your mood; nice bass runs and some equally nice guitar work. The one song that really seems out of place is “Happy Quarter.”