Lion Music is due to release a special edition of SONATA ARCTICA guitarist Elias Viljanen’s 2002 debut solo release, Taking The Lead. The re-release sees the original 12 track instrumental tour-de-force packaged with the added bonus of a professionally shot previously unreleased seven track live DVD entitled Evil Spirit Live, which contains material from Viljanen's two solo albums released on Lion Music.

Some nine years after original release Taking The Lead is still regarded as one as one of the best debuts of instrumental rock/metal guitar to have emerged in the 21st century from a then unknown guitarist, and Viljanen has built a reputation that has seen him advance into the upper tier of hard rock shredders founded on the solid foundations of this debut solo release.


The new dual CD/DVD version of Taking The Lead hits the streets on 19th August 2011.