When I found out that Gianluca Galli was the guitarist of Mantra I had serious doubts whether I was going to like this album. It was only weeks ago that I had written a rather negative review of this bands latest effort Hard Times. After a couple of songs I had to check whether I had put the right cd into my cd player; I liked what I was hearing! The album features twelve instrumental songs all with guitars in the leading role, but never playing a dominant part over the other instruments. A nice feature of the album is the set of liner notes in the small booklet. I know that most instrumentalists try to create specific atmospheres on their albums, but these intentions are hardly ever clear to the listener.

The liner notes are short written explanations of the track title. This makes it a lot easier to appreciate some of the more experimental sounds on the album and the atmospheres in general. In the booklet are some familiar names among whom Patrick Rondat (there’s a review of his latest solo effort in our archives) but more importantly: Andrea Castelli and Senio Firmati, both Mantra members! I find the difference between Mantra and this Galli solo effort unbelievable. I can hardly think of any similarities between Hard Times and Back Home other than the horrendous cover and fact that the production of both albums could have been better. Back Home is one of the better instrumental rock albums.