Artist: Thorbjorn Englund 
   Title: Influences
   Label: Lion Music

Winterlong guitar virtuoso Thorbjorn Englund has always dreamed of doing a solo work ever since the first Winterlong release, finally he's found the right time in his career to do such a project and 'Influences' is end result.

As the title suggests Thorbjorn has taken all his influences over the years and put them onto one album.  These range from some of the guitar greats like Malmsteen, Satriani and De Lucia, to covering some NES game soundtracks and revamping some ideas he had during the first Winterlong demo.

I’m the sort of person who can take or leave total guitar albums, but with this release I find myself coming back to it time and again.  Whether it’s the varying compositions or the different influences I just can't resist putting this album on at least once a day either at home or in the car.

The album opens up with ‘Jesus Stole My Harley’, (hey what a great title!), a track that was the first track on the very same demo that got Winterlong signed to Lion Music in the first place and showcases Thorbjorn’s free flowing guitar style to great effect.

The next track ‘Heart of Fire’ is one of three covers taken from the 1986 NES video game Castlevania, the other two being ‘Wicked Child’ and Walking On The Edge’, which in his opinion is the greatest soundtrack to any video game.

But it’s the likes of ‘Demonica’ where he really shows his metal on a song that is a real shredders delight.  His inspiration for the song came after listening to Lars Eric Mattson’s album ‘Powergames’.

The album switches styles so effortlessly while Thorbjorn remains unpretentious throughout and manages to keep the listener hooked, something that is sadly often lost on other guitar albums. 

Take ‘Winds of Change’, a fantasy intro that is short and to the point and then it's straight into ‘Wicked Child’ and ‘Walking On The Edge', two covers of a game soundtrack.  Just as you're getting to grips with that he delves into the Flamenco guitar stylings of Paca De Luca with the magnificent ‘A Flame Of Flamenco’, before it's back to the heavier stuff with ‘Flying’, a real roller coaster ride.

The varying styles continue on the final third of the album with Thorbjorn finding influences from the strangest quarter.  There’s a little thing called ‘Devillina’ which he takes his influence from Violinist extraordinaire Vanessa Mae.  The classical influence doesn’t end there as Mozart gets a revamp with his Symphony 40 getting the Thorbjorn treatment on all too short ‘W.A.M Goes Electric’.

He also shows a gentler side to his playing with the haunting ‘The Abyss’ and ‘Beautiful Beyond’, where the guitars are thrown to one side and he takes up the piano, while backed by an orchestra for one of the most regal tracks on the album.

The final song ‘Vikings Tomb’ is a tribute to his forefathers and with this he raises a beer filled horn and drinks to Valhalla.  A fitting end to a great album whose only criticism is that some of the tracks are a bit short.  Just as your getting into them they end, but maybe someday he will extend a few of these and release them at a later time.

Tracklisting:

1. Jesus stole my Harley
2. Heart of Fire
3. Demonica
4. Siberian Nights
5. Winds of Change
6. Wicked Child
7. Walking on the Edge
8. A flame of Flamenco
9. Flying
10. Princess Lane
11. Notes from the dark Side
12. Devillina
13. W.A.M. Goes Electric
14. The Abyss
15. Beautiful Beyond
16. Viking Tomb

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