Guitar Player Spotlight and other reviews for guitarist Sean Mercer

Read Rob Johnson's (solo artist and guitarist for Magnitude Nine) comments about the "Electric Storm" CD

Thanks VERY much for sending me your CD! I really like it !

It reminded me of VINNIE MOORE , MACALPINE , SATRIANI

Great playing , well crafted songs , shredding & melody!

Thanks so much for letting me hear it!

Review of Fret-Essential compilation CD by

Rob Johnson: solo artist and guitarist for Magnitude Nine

"If you're into GREAT guitar playing: (Eg. Vai , Satriani , MacAlpine , Yngwie , etc ) you will really enjoy this instrumental guitar compilation. I really enjoyed hearing these great players; some I have never heard about until I heard this CD. That's part of the excitement, discovering NEW artists that blow you away. I really enjoyed Art Faccio , David Beegle, Jim Morris, & Sean Mercer, these guys all rip & display great amounts of melody. So, if your looking for a great new GUITAR CD to check out ,
Get this one, get in your car & crank it up for hours!"

Sean Mercer's "Electric Storm" CD mentioned in Greek Magazine Rock On

Review of Electric Storm by Ilan Rosenfeld on Time to Live - The Rock and Metal Review site September 2003

Originally from Cape Town, Sean Mercer now resides in the U.S.A. where he, among other occupations, composes and plays some great guitar. “Electric Storm” is a collection of compositions by him, varying in styles and sounds.

I would say the guitar player whose sound is usually closest to Mercer’s is Vinnie Moore. However, there are several songs that would remind me of other guitarists, like Marty Friedman (“Ilana”) or Jason Becker (“Electric Storm”). Sean said he was deeply influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen but I could not find any protruding sign of that in his music (perhaps the intro in “Mushrooms Of Fire”), apart from the excellent technique and some really fast licks going on.

The classification of Mercer under the title “Instrumental Progressive Rock” is fitting. There are many progressive elements in his music, including interesting chord progressions and rhythmic changes. There many doubled (maybe tripled?) guitar segments that add a lot to the fun in listening.

Most tracks are rocky in sound, but there are more quiet ones, like the acoustic “Last Time”, and parts of “Opus 2”, for example. The diversity of sounds does not leave a moment of dullness.

Highlight tracks, or at least my favorites, are “The Festival” (in addition to great guitar, there’s a 70’s style keyboard solo here too), “Ilana” and “Last Time”. All songs are fun to listen to, and therefore we have a very cool album demonstrating good performance as well as excellent composition.

Japanese review of Electric Storm (85% rating) on Neo-Classical HeavyMetal ML June 2003

(Click the link and scroll down to the review)

Review of "Electric Storm" by Ronny Elst, Metal Coven, April 2003

Sean Mercer “Electric Storm” (90%)

Category : New release

Format : CD

Playing time : 47:21 minutes

Release : 2002

Label : Independent release

Style : Melodic/progressive instrumental rock

Country : U.S.A.

Songs : Elation ; The Festival ; Juicy Lucy ; Shades Of Blue ; Reflections ; Ilana ; Electric Storm ; Celtic Belt ; Last Time ; Holding Back ; Mushrooms Of Fire ; Opus 2

Sean (originally from Cape Town but now living in the U.S.A.) began playing acoustic guitar at age ten.Five years later he got his first (used) electric guitar.That time Sean’s inspirations were Jethro Tull, Clapton and Santana.He played in several bands but later he focussed on his real passion ; composing original instrumentals.Around that same time there was another turning point in Sean’s focus ; he heard Yngwie Malmsteen play and Sean would not be happy with a lesser standard.Sean’s first album “Electric Storm” is an excellent instrumental rock release.His songs are influenced by melodic, progressive and neo-classical rock styles.

Sean doesn’t want to play faster as the speed of light, but he’s concentrating on playing very nice melodic themes and melodies.I would describe “Electric Storm” as a mixture of Vinnie Moore’s recent albums and Michael Schenker’s solo albums.I appreciate Sean a lot as musician and composer ; one of the best “unknown” guitarists that I heard lately!Currently Sean is (when he’s not at his day job) hard at work on his next instrumental cd and he’s putting the finishing touches to his forthcoming guitar tuition book.

I hope that we’ll hear a lot of Sean in the (near) future!

Homepage : www.seanmercer.com

E-mail : info@seanmercer.com

90 % by Ronny Elst (2003)

Review of "Electric Storm" by Wayne Klinger, Quintessence, April 2003

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Sean Mercer (U.S.)- "Electric Storm" (2002 self)

Sean is in that class of ever-growing popularity of doing everything yourself. You know, the engineering, writing, composing, producing, etc.. Sean is a precisional musician and despite greatly influenced by Malmsteen, he is not a carbon copy of the famous Swede and even has his own unique sound...how unique? About as original as the sound you hear from one of Martone's albums. The CD itself is 12 tracks and Sean is just amazing on guitar and not to forget his keyboard expertise; he may not be the next Jordan Rudess, but he gets the job done emphatically. The music reflects some Neo meets Blues meets Fusion and has been quoted by the likes of Shrapnel Records' Mike Varney as "reminiscent at times of works by Tony MacAlpine". Sean is just yet another player to sneak up onto the hugely growing scene of guitarists and deserves some press. You may also check him out on my upcoming CD compilation release, "Fret-essential". www.seanmercer.com Email: info@seanmercer.com

Review of "Electric Storm" by Robert Silverstein, 20th Century Guitar Magazine, February 2003

(Also available online at Music Web Express 3000 - Click the link and scroll down)

He’s been playing guitar since he was a kid back in his native South Africa and after hearing his solo album it’s obvious that it’s paid off for guitarist Sean Mercer. Mercer’s solo debut Electric Storm is filled with a dozen blazing guitar instrumental tracks that sound quite inspired by legends like Steve Vai and Tony MacAlpine. Mercer sets his Kramer Guitars on fire on Electric Storm and the result is superbly composed and performed instrumental guitar album that combines muscular hard rock playing with thought-provoking, neoclassical compositions. He receives support from a number of players, but the center spotlight is clearly on Mercer’s soaring electric guitar performance. www.seanmercer.com

Review of "Electric Storm" in the Italian magazine Metal Shock, March 2003

Rating was 7 out of 10

(Click a thumbnail below for a larger copy of the review)

Review of "Electric Storm" on Millerecords Reviews by Roberto Guarnieri

(Click the above link to read the original review in Italian or see the English translation below)

“The American guitarist Sean Mercer has had a very strange career. He was discovered years ago by the distinguished Mike Varney, and was then consigned to oblivion for over a decade. You'll remember that the American producer decided to forget about metal instrumental works for a period, in order to devote himself to blues guitarists. Mercer, however, didn't give up, and has come out with "Electric Storm," his first fully instrumental work, which will surely be well received by those who like Vinnie Moore and such neo-classical guitarists with a similar sound.

The CD's sonorities are typical of the late '80s sound, with truly melodic harmonization and a distinct technical mastery. My premonition is fully supported: Because Mercer doesn’t have that coldness typical of other guitarists in the genre, I'd venture that Varney was wrong not to produce so skilled a guitarist, at least in such a historical period as the last twenty years. Contact information info@seanmercer.com

(Rating: 4 stars out of 5)

Review of "Electric Storm" on Strutter'zine.

(Click the link and scroll down about halfway or read it below)

SEAN MERCER 'ELECTRIC STORM' (INDEPENDENT)

Guitarist SEAN MERCER comes out of the USA and his CD ‘Electric storm’ is a high-class instrumental AOR/Melodic Rock/Prog album that comes dangerously close to YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. 12 songs are included, and the musicianship is of a very high level. Highlights are “Elation”, “The festival”, “Electric storm”, “Holding back”, “Mushrooms of fire” (hello MALMSTEEN!) and “Opus 2”. Without any doubts, if you’re into quality instrumental rock music, this CD brings you as much pleasure as listening to a MALMSTEEN record. More info at: http://www.seanmercer.com and e-mail him at: info@seanmercer.com

(Points: 8.0 out of 10)

Brief review (in Japanese) of "Electric Storm" on N eocla.com.

(Click the link and scroll down to the bottom)

Read the review of "Electric Storm" CD on Progressive Rock/Progressive Metal

(click the link and scroll down to the bottom), December 18, 2002