Joe Matera – Slave To The Fingers EP review

Joe Matera – Slave To The Fingers EP review

Released through: W.A.R. Productions Release date: Available now

Joe Matera is an Australian guitarist, who is creating some ‘thunder down under,’ to coin a phrase.

He has worked as a guest with a number of other acts, as well as being a contributor to Guitar World magazine and many others globally, but his name came to my attention last year, when someone shared a cover song with me, that featured his playing.

The cover song was Thin Lizzy’s Cold Sweat - Ha ha! It must be obvious my love of Lizzy! - by metal band Atomkraft and I thought Joe’s playing was certainly worth checking out further, which sadly is more than I could say about Atomkraft’s impact on me!

Cue this EP, ‘Slave To The Fingers,’ which is Joe’s second official solo release, following 2010’s acoustic ‘Travellin’ West’ release.
I must make this clear though, this is all, purely instrumental, no vocals folks!

Joe gets back to the rock with this new one, that has a very brief 'interlude' intro track, literally just about thirty seconds, before title cut, ‘Slave To The Fingers.’

‘Slave To The Fingers’ is pretty solid rock fare and his style perhaps captures many influences. Seriously, many names come to mind, from listening to this E.P., including even thoughts of The Shadows if you ask me, maybe a nod toward, Allman Brothers, Wishbone Ash, Clapton and Mark Knopfler too.

The title track at just over three and a half minutes is a pretty steady mid to up tempo piece.

Next tune, ‘Cruise Control’ takes a slight step back in places reminding me of the sound of mid 70’s era Thin Lizzy, think ‘Nightlife’ and even ‘Fighting.’ Not bad at all.

‘Out of the Blue’ is next and it starts to creep up on you and maybe not on quite the same production level, but I’d say it has a very slight hint of some of the more melodic N.W.O.B.H.M. (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) acts sound.

Possibly even at times a more melodic Saxon or (Judas) Priest, remember though that this is all instrumental, with no vocals to be had anywhere, although I could quite easily imagine lyrics and vocals being added to this material.

It’s ‘Face Off’ next, which clocks in at just under three minutes and is a mid to upbeat steady rock number, that here and there makes me strangely in places of .38 Special. That said as I listen to Joe’s tone more and more, I realise that it’s very unique to be honest, but I will add that it does sound a little like Brian Roberston’s tone during his Wild Horses era.

Overall the EP is under fifteen minutes long or should that be short ..., but that said, I think there's a lot of promise here. It'll be interesting to see where Joe fit's into getting a full album under his belt either solo or with another act.

Nice work, very respectable stuff indeed. Pleasant probably best describes it.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

Official website:

http://joematera.com



You can pick this up, either through Joe's site directly - Link above - or here at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Slave-Fingers-Joe-Matera/dp/B006JSXYZ0/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1328838510&sr=1-1

or here on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/au/album/slave-to-the-fingers-ep/id477164240