Hailing from the far-away island of Sicily, nestled in the Mediterranean Sea to the south of Italy, Matteo Mancuso is perhaps the best-kept secret in the lineage of great Italian-American guitarists, such as Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Al Di Meola, John Petrucci, and Frank Gambale. Having grown up on a steady diet of Django Reinhart and contemporary jazz classics, Mancuso started to balance these influences with hard-rock and prog monoliths such as LED ZEPPELIN, DEEP PURPLE, RUSH, and DREAM THEATER in his mid-teens, making him a genuinely multi-faceted player. To make things even more astounding, he plays the guitar with his fingers instead of a regular pick, which layers his signature sound with nothing short of an impressive and unique tone. What really beats me is the fact that, up until now, I had totally missed his contributions to the world of instrumental, fusion-tinted guitar music – and I used to consider myself a connoisseur of this particular style. Now, it’s time to correct the course and check out his new album, “The Journey,” due out on July 21st, 2023. The outing also marks his debut for the label, The Players Club, which is a guitar-oriented division of the Mascot Label Group, boasting some of the most iconic guitar-slingers in the world. After a few spins, it’s easy to agree that here’s a worthy addition to the label’s roster of guitar greats such as Paul Gilbert, Jan Akkerman, Robben Ford, and Marty Friedman, to name a few.
The album opens with “Silkroad,” the title of which might suggest something out of the Kitaro & Richard Page songbook but which, instead, embarks on a sonic exploration into the realm of mellow, fusion-tinted shredding in a somewhat SNARKY PUPPY -like fashion. The coda is a prime candidate for the most mind-bending off-kilter riff so far this year – I’ve been racking my brain to figure out the meter and 11/8 is the closest I got before my brain went into a self-annihilating mode – and yet, the riff grooves like hell! Needless to say, I guess, but this mad Italian guitarist won me over instantly: TKO in the first round. This sort of sonic sorcery defies the mythical quantum gravity itself!
And speaking of groove – the album comes jam-packed with a good amount of grooves of all sorts, ranging from straight-up jazz to hard-rockish prog. When it comes to the jazzier side of things, “Polifero,” for instance, comes off as a smooth cross between Pat Metheny and George Benson – minus the falsetto scats, of course – and “Blues for John” triggers nice John Scofield flashbacks. Yeah, did I say that this cat is one versatile guitarist! One moment, the riffs are accelerating, then braking, the legatos are whizzing around sharp corners and riding bumps, yet the groove remains intact, all the same. While the exquisitely choreographed melodies are the first thing that grabs your attention, more than half of the album’s appeal stems from the robust grooves beneath all the melodic ornamentation.
The hard-rock influences shine through most prominently on “Drop D,” a song which presumably is in drop-D tuning, rolling out a banging hard-rock shuffle with a good pinch of fusion flavor. The maestro himself states that it is one of the most fun songs to play live – and it’s easy to believe: the song is a downright feel-good banger. Come to think about it, quite a few songs on the album ooze with a distinct feel-good vibe. “Falcon Flight,” for instance, is an up-tempo fusion beast that throws in a little bit of Oriental flavor toward the end of the song when Mancuso showcases his sitar chops. Then, “Samba Party,” comes off as yet another good-vibey fusion feat – and does not precisely resonate much with the air of the sun-dried Latin rhythms or, at least, not the kind of samba beats I’m used to. Nonetheless, the sentiment is straight from the streets of Rio De Janeiro.
While the album will no doubt tickle the fancy of many aspiring guitarists, it is not exclusively about shredding. There are a good few songs whose appeal relies more on the atmosphere, such as “Open Fields” and the acoustic title track closing the album. “Time to Leave” could be included in this category as well, with its mellow, acoustic explorations into the Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern sonic textures that echo Al Di Meola’s past endeavors rather nicely. In fact, there’s quite a lot of acoustic guitar on the album – and why the hell not? Mancuso sure knows how to make his instrument sing regardless of whether it is electric or acoustic. For us mortals fixed in this four-dimensional spacetime, it almost sounds as though he’s got an extra dimension hidden up his sleeve.
I still have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I had not heard of this magnificent guitarist before. Then again, I guess I’m not the only one, given that this outing is the guitar maestro’s international entrée. “The Journey” is one hell of a debut album from this unsung Italian hero and it sure deserves all the attention it can get! Leaning heavily on the jazzier side of things, this effort aptly shows that good old Frank Zappa was wrong when he claimed, “Jazz is not dead, it just smells funny.” Nope, it’s not dead and it doesn’t even smell weird – it is very much alive!
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Silkroad
- Polifemo
- Falcon Flight
- Open Fields
- DropD
- Blues for John
- Time to Leave
- Samba Party
- The Journey
Lineup
Matteo Mancuso – guitars
Stefano India – bass
Riccardo Oliva – bass
Guiseppe Bruno – drums
Gianluca Pellerito – drums
Guiseppe Vasapolli – piano, organ
Label
The Players Club / Mascot Label Group
Links
https://www.matteomancuso.net/
