Matra – IV

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · August 21, 2025

Matra is a stoner/ heavy psych rock band from Milan, Italy. Consisting of Franco Campanella on lead vocals, Paola Bramno on guitars, Gando Pauar on bass and backing vocals, and Fra Lafra on drums, the quartet has a slew of recordings. It all started with 2005’s Missione Delta. Matra then released 2013’s Roots2TheSky, and 2019’s MATRA III. On July 8th 2025, the band released their fourth album, aptly titled IV. The album contains nine tracks and lasts about thirty five minutes long.

“Telepathic Breakdown” starts things off with a retro rocking and heavy grooving rhythm. Matra has a strong progressive rock and jazz style breaks that keeps everything sounding fresh and interesting. The funky bass tone is another positive, coupled with the fine songwriting skills. Every track is a journey down the sonic highway of rock. The band has an upbeat and bouncy rhythm happening with “Headwind And Fired”. The next track “Loser With Pride” is dynamic and very musical. Matra are really jamming tight together on this one and the energy is consistent throughout.

“Visions” is a heavy rocker with a beautiful vintage vibe. The musicianship and vocals are amazing and the flow of the riffs is very alluring. It’s easy to get immersed into the seventies sounding rhythms and especially when the band are architects of creating musical space and jubilant tones and rhythms. Songs like “Visions” and “Graven Words” are fantastic retro-rockers through and through, however, when “Iron Soul” comes on, things are different. The sound expanded and the band sounds fuller, for some reason. The song rocks hard like the others and Matra are making a big impression on me with how great they sound. IV is a slickly produced and not too polished album that is really growing on me.

“Landing Back On What I Am” is a banger! The bouncy groove and good vocals are a winning combo for creating catchy rock songs like this one. “Ball And Chain” and “Rusty Day” are the final two tracks on the album. They are both excellent and progressive sounding numbers and round out the record perfectly. I am really enjoying this band and album! I need to spend more time with it but they are magnificent musicians and songwriters, creating their own form of musical art.