KIKO LOUREIRO

What an incredible album. Not that I didnt know that Kiko Loureiro was capable of doing such an ecletic sound: if you minimally follow Angra releases, will see that their first three albums (and especially Holy Land) is full of fusion with brazilian sounds.

But this album of Kiko Loureiros goes for another kind of stuff. Sure, brazilian motives are all spread around, but the most obvious mix is the heavy metal virtuosity of his guitar with the smooth jazz present in the first track, mainly, but in all album overall. Some of his playing remind me moments of Martin Barre, where the real thing is not solo and yes compose.

I wish all career of Kiko Loureiro were like this, because this album is great.

Not for fans of Heavy Metal, a true progressive fusion over here.

The Brazilian artist Kiko LOUREIRO is arguably among the best known guitarists in his native country. Invited to join highly popular and acclaimed metal act Angra at the age of 19, his reputation has been rising alongside that of the band for the last 20 years. In 2005 he decided to establish himself as a solo artist, which so far has resulted in three CDs: "Full Gravity" from 2005, "Universo Inverso" from 2006 and "Fullblast" from 2009. The first two have spawned several reissues, and amongst them is this 2007 edition of "Universo Inverso", released by the US label Boosweet Records in 2007.

Instrumental jazz rock isn't a style of music most will associate with Kiko Loureiro, I'd imagine, but with "Universo Inverso" he has documented that this type of music is one he excels at just as much as the metal he's more renowned for. If Latin-tinged rhythms, guitar soloing and a firm jazz-oriented backbone in an instrumental guise sounds like something you'd like to become familiar with, this is a disc you'll want to check out, in particular if gentle, smooth high-quality music enriched with subtle details suits your personal taste.

I'm no reviewer but i have to say something since no one got into the trouble of writing something. This album (Instrumental in it's all) is mostly guitar driven riffs,themes and melodies written by Kiko Loureiro. Speedy stuff, highly technical themes and melodies, heavy riffs and upon them Jazz improvisations with some latin influences. And in between these great structured tracks are some smaller mellower ones showing the musical background that Kiko is coming from and that is the Brazilian music. The improvisations are not that long and boring as many other guitar records and each is unique in it's own way. Although when i listen to this, John Petrucci's Suspended Animation comes to mind, This album is ''similar'' but WAY better in every single aspect. In the structure of the songs and in the overall compostion area Loureiro Shines!

Just a few words on this one. Way different from the previous and the next album.This delivers a mixture of jazz, latin, brazilian melodies along with hard and edgy fusion/jazz rock. Some are fast guitar oriented tunes which then slow a bit to become more brazilian oriented with piano solos from Yanel Matos who in this case is simply OUTSTANDING!Some are slow more contemporary jazz/brazilian jazz. Also the Bass player Carlinhos Noronha shines through this one but you might have to listen a little bit deeper to be able to comprehend what he is giving to this album.It is rare for me to say such good words for a bass player. Cuca Teixeira's playing might remind you of Dennis Chambers or Billy Cobham.And that is because his style is aggresive and very dynamic. As for Kiko himself no words. Those of you who take time to read these reviews know what he is all about.

For a jazz/fusion fan this is Highly recommended! This is solid 5 stars!

VIVA BRAZIL! Mr KIKO LOUREIRO deliver his huge talent even further with this third solo release!A magnificent album,maybee the most mature solo album so far!Brilliant under all aspects and full of wonderful compositions!Diverse and a pure demonstration of perfect balance between super intelligent and catchy compositions and an impressive display of technical qualities too! A great alchemy between all the components of the project!MIKE TERRANA ,especially is a monster drummer which needs no presentation!Here ,he literarly kills the drumms and sometimes the double pedal rhythms are scarry!A true human drum machine which delivers here 200 % of his tremendeous talent!FULLBLAST is a very metallic album,but we have also some fusion songs where Kiko seems to be like a fish in the water!Some fusion lovers will be a little dissapointed about the fact that this album is less fusion orientated than UNIVERSO INVERSO!That's true,but we don't have to forget thet KIKO is guitar player in the metal band ANGRA,so.....HEADSTRONG,the opening track is like a fist in the face,a punching song with great rhythm,an excellent song with a great impact on the listener.The absolute highlight of the album is the sensational symphonic introduction combined with classical elements of MUNDO VERDE,and then the furious fallowing PURA VIDA,but the previous one OUTRAGEOUS is spectacular too!KIKO offers in this album the whole image of a terribly heavenly gifted guitar player,which has a various range of musical expressions and feels to be more in his element in the metal songs!He can play no matter musical style,he is impressive in fusion compositions,like he was on UNIVERSO INVERSO,but his main love is dfinitelly power metal!A majestic production,well balanced and a diverse compositional aproach,an album without a weak song-that's rare! Undoubtedly one of the best instrumental albums of 2009 and a sure diamond in this too rich,maybee,guitar world of more or less talented guitar players !!! 4,5 STARS obviously!!!