Artist: Katrina Johansson CD Title: “Guitarsongs Volume 1” EP Reviewed by: Nick Martinelli Reviewed: 10/29/2005

Ripping shred, blazing arpeggios and melody are just a few words that come mind when listening to the immense guitar playing of Katrina Johansson. She's a take no prisoners shredder that burns up the fret board and hooks you with a tasty melody at the same time. She's a rare breed in the modern instrumental guitar genre. Katrina keeps her songs short, sweet and to the point unlike many artists that think shredding non-stop for 7 minutes is a good thing. Her leads are well constructed fitting seamlessly together. All of her songs have main hook lines that are repeated throughout to help restate the main melody line. Katrina is defiantly a climatic player that builds up tension in her writing.

"Driven" is a dramatic instrumental covering lots of ground including soulful bends, intense shredding and catchy licks. She makes use of the darker modes and harmonic accents. I also really enjoyed how she "rolls" her three note per string licks. "K-9 Lullaby" begins this journey with a harmonized open string hammer-on, pull-off lick that leads right into her main melody line. This song is easily the "melodic masterpiece" of the ep. Katrina's harmonized passages really add depth to the track making it a very atmospheric song. Plus who could resist a great minor harmony. About half way through the song be ready to be blown away by her speed picking and bluesy bends. Simply breath taking, period. "Intuition" is a very upbeat song making it a definite ear pleaser. Sure Katrina doesn't hold back when its time to shred, but she backs off and whisks you away with plenty of feel. Closing "Guitarsongs" is the high octane shred fest "Daredevil." The song title is a perfect match for her guitar playing on this hot number. Her fingers fly one million miles an hours up and down the fret board in delightful, but yet bone crushing fashion. Katrina even breaks out with some Paganini pedal runs at lightning speeds during her musical rave. Then all of a sudden she slices you to pieces with her furious bends! Katrina covers lots of ground never leaving a rock unturned.

All I can say is when is the next album coming out! I'm dying to her more of her superb guitar playing. Katrina really stands out from the crop of instrumental guitarists today. She focuses on the song and melodies before the shred. Of course she rips plenty, but it always seems like she does it just at the right spot. She'll build up a verse to a point and then just explode with soaring licks and speed. Many guitarists in her genre seem to think its ok to shred, shred and shred and let the melody come second. Katrina hats off to you for putting out some refreshing material. More artists need to write instrumentals like you do! Four out of four stars without any hesitation!

For more info visit: www.katrinaguitar.com

Other inf Michael Angelo plays bass and assisted with engineering on the album.