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The Matadors hail from Sweden but you might never guess that after listening to The Muse of Senor Ray. This pop rock trio blends the stoner rock of Fu Manchu with a little bit of the Queens of The Stone Age quirkiness with the end result being a punk/rock/stoner hybrid. There is a little more to them than that however as The Matadors might have you believing they are true matadors, with some serious Spanish/Mexican undertones prevalent throughout the album and what even sounds like some mariachis playing at some points in these songs. This is a pretty interesting gimmick and to be honest it works decently, convincing in manner and tone. In fact listening to this makes me feel like ordering up some tequila or heading down to the local tacqueria.
In all honesty though it’s difficult to take The Muse of Senor Ray too seriously but also difficult to be too critical of it as well. Stripped down to the essentials the songs found on here are good-humored rock n roll party tunes. There may be a hint of metal here or there but make no mistake about it; this music is pretty easy listening and borderline mainstream rock. While I initially had dismissed this disc for the most part I came to discover that it could be actually pretty addicting if listened to with the correct mind frame, and it is possible you might find yourself feeling the groove on some of these rhythms. The vocalist Andreas Bergstrom sounds practically identical to Fu Manchu front man and there are times when listening to this that I think I am listening to a Fu Manchu record. But instead of surfer & skater themes we are treated to some samba beats, handclaps, and mariachis. The rest of the time the songs seem to be more in the line of Queens of The Stone Age type rock songs, but without nearly the same pizzazz. The Matadors go for more of a garage type production on The Muse of Senor Ray and while it may help to make this more of a fuzzy rock record, I can’t help but to think a more straight forward approach would have helped the band sound more invigorated Anyway, The Muse Of Senor Ray is not about album production values, blazing guitar riifs, or the other technicalities most of us metal heads look for when we listen to an album. This is an album to throw on for a party or a road trip (preferably for a Spanish themed destination) Fans of Queens of The Stone Age, Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet and other stoner rock bands may want to give this a spin to see if it they can get into it.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Like A Matador Pt II |
| 2. I Just Tell You What You Wanna Hear |
| 3. Down The Fair |
| 4. Dingus Squatford Jr |
| 5. Along Came The Halo |
| 6. Oh Well. It's A Bizarre World |
| 7. Lap Of Luxury |
| 8. Senor Ray |
| 9. You Know The Octopus Wasn't Good |
| 10. Rise Above Adversity |
| 11. Deliverance |
| 12. Next Episode |
| 13. Along Came The Halo (QuickTime Video) |
: 34.12
| Buy other Matadors, the albums |
