Review: Mattias Ohlsson Project – Illumination

Style: Traditional/Core/Djent (Mixed vocals)
Review by: Dylan
Country: Sweden
Release date: 07-08-2020

I’m always cautiously optimistic when I hear about a new concept prog metal album composed entirely by one person. It feels like it’s so easy to fail miserably at it, that it’s become a main time waster of mine, trying to click with albums that are just overall mediocre. But when done correctly, it feels like a beautiful painting that a mastermind’s been working on for months if not years. I’m very happy to announce that Matthias Ohlsson Project (which I will be referring to as MOP from now on) have achieved the latter

Let’s get something out of the way: This album won’t blow your mind with innovative never seen before ideas. In fact, it’s influences can be heard quite clearly; the clean hooks scream late Haken, the core moments feel straight out of newer BTBAM material, and the ”textured” feel of the riffs and atmosphere feels like a big TesseracT nod. However, it commits itself to this ecclectic, varied style and excels at it.

At 67 minutes, Illumination offers a lot of content. While it’s concept is not ”in your face” it’s musical flow makes the general idea easy to understand. And yes, it’s got a fair amount of corniness but that’s (in my opinion) a staple of the genre by now; either you embrace it or hate it. Instrumentally, I was very pleased with this album’s sense of melody, offering plenty of catchy solos and hooks that make these ”ever-changing” tracks memorable even though they aren’t abundant on repetition. And we haven’t even talked about the production! At the risk of sounding unprofessional, I’ll tell you that it just sounds super duper good, every instrument has that right balance of presence, power, and subtlety to it; it’s simply a very pleasant album to listen to. If I had to point out one weakness it’s the vocals; While the harshes are amazing, the cleans range from serviceable to weak. However, they’re far from anything that’s unlisteneable and overall fits the vibe of the album really well.

MOP has delivered a debut album that has guaranteed that I’m gonna keep my eyes peeled for future releases; It’s meticulous use of multiple influences got my interest the moment I sampled it, and has kept me interested throughout multiple listens. Definitely worth your time

Recommended tracks: Inferno Within, Unforgiven, Illumination
Recommended for fans of: Haken, Between the Buried and Me, Tesseract
Final verdict: 8.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Independent

Band is:
Mattias Ohlsson: All instruments