Local CD Review - Reprinted with the permission of Metro Pulse Online
Matt Hebert
Control Freak
Local guitarist Matt Hebert's new CD release Control Freak, is full of fascinating musical ideas—angular guitar melodies, weird studio manipulations, and flat-out noise. The jewel box is nearly as intriguing, with liner notes for songs like "Cephlahematoma" and "Love Theme From an Imaginary Porno." Even his choice of collaborators, is, well, quirky, as on track 3, "Cat", where the vocal is attributed to, well, a cat. I think it's his, but he doesn't say.
Sometimes Hebert's ideas aren't quite strong enough to carry an entire song, as on the opening "Cephlahematoma," where the jagged, sustainy riff that pulses through it begins to wear thin with repetition. But mostly his oddness and imagination are both intriguing and compelling. At the end of Control Freak, I wanted to hear more.
Hebert is an outstanding musician first and foremost, and Control Freak is shot through with lurching, stabbing electric guitar work, reminiscent of Steve Vai or electric fusioneer Allan Holdsworth. But he's also a creator, a conceptualist, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter with a most unusual muse. He's a Control Freak, I guess you'd say. And sometimes, that's a good thing.
-by Mike Gibson