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Artist: Chris Caffery |
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As
one of the most respected metal guitarist around Chris Caffery has been
an integral part of Savatage and TSO, but his solo material has edged
away from those bands and has always shown the true nature of the man
and his guitar playing. This is highlighted once again with his
latest release 'House Of Insanity' where he takes his guitar playing to
new heights and his combination with Zak
Stevens, Caffery has brought out that raw energy heard on Savatage’s
early albums such as 'Power of the Night' and 'Sirens'. The
album opens up with ‘Seasons Change’ and straight away those
instantly recognisable Caffery licks come spewing out of the speakers
like an old friend, taking you to a simpler time when metal was metal
and towering riffs and a tremendous back beat was all that mattered to a
young metalhead. The
title track ‘House Of Insanity’ again delivers a great touch of
Caffery's guitars, high energy licks wrapped around impossible rhythms
and in Steven’s the perfect backboard to bounce those riffs off. ‘I
Won’t Know’ is another Steven’s and Caffery duetting classic, as
the pair bring out all the best of the early Savatage styles and slap a
modern twist on things. Great stuff. Caffery has always been
known for his spellbinding riffs and licks and they are in abundance on
this album. The album continues with ‘The Fleas’ and slows
down just for a moment with seminal ballad ‘Madonna’, on which
Steven’s shines once again. Then
you come to the all out metal shredding of ‘Big Brother’, where
Caffery is let loose to do what he does best, a real slice of great
modern metal. Caffery
really shows he can mix it up with the best six string masters as he
takes a melodic metal path with my favourite track off the album the
sublime ‘Backs To The Wall’. Not particularly an all out metal
track, but a harmonious slice of gentle melodic metal that is just
superb. One
track that really could have been from the glory days of Savatage is
‘Solitaire’. If it wasn’t for 'Backs To The Wall’ then
this would have been my track of the album. If I had to pick not
one but three outstanding tracks off this album then the next one would
come in at number three, after 'Backs To The Wall' and 'Solitaire'.
That track is ‘I’m Sorry’, a great track full of haunting
melodies, deep thumping drums and bass tones all adding to the dark feel
of the track. The
pace is picked up once again with ‘Shame’ before simmering down with
the reflective semi-acoustic tones of ‘Winter In Hamburg’, before
journeying into the funk ridden blues of ‘No Matter What. The
album closes with a stomping cover of ‘Get Up, Stand Up’, which
wraps up another great solo Caffery album. For all those who are
still waiting for another Savatage album to be released, check this one,
out it will fill that gap.
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| Tracklisting:
1. Seasons Change |
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