Artist: Marco Sfogli 
   Title: There's Hope
   Label: Lion Music

There’s Hope is the first of three guitar/instrumental album releases from Lion Music who have always put quality before trends and muses and again the label have come up trumps with their choice of releases in the guitar oriented field.

First up is Marco Sfogli’s new album 'There’s Hope'.  Those of you who picked up John Macaluso’s 'The Radio Waves Goodbye’ will know just how talented a guitar player Sfogli really is and this his solo debut release again stamps this knowledge firmly in the anoles of the genre as one of the finest Melodic guitar players around.

The album isn’t just a muso’s album what Sfogli delivers is eleven tracks of pure passion and intricacy that equals and surpasses many of the, shall we say, more renowned guitarists around today.

Things get underway with ‘Still Hurts’ and instantly the very high quality of Sfogli’s musicianship shines through, not only the fluent guitars but also the gentle keyboards which he also plays on this track.  The solo’s aren’t too twiddly or over complicated so the listener isn’t thrown by endless shredding.  Sfogli keeps them short, melodic and easy on the ear.

This trademark guitar playing is carried right on throughout the entire album, from the mystic futuristic ‘Andromeda’ and the gentle yet inspiring ‘Seven’, as Sfogli is joined by Fabio Tommasone on piano and John Macaluso on drums.

There is such a varied mix of style and influences intertwined on this glorious album.  Sfogli get a little heavier with the title track ‘There’s Hope’ where Macaluso joins Sfogli, this one is right off Malmsteen’s book, but again without swaying too far into the complicated shredding and over indulgent selfness that you sometimes get with some guitarists solo albums.

There’s even a little blues infused jazz combo with ‘Spread The Disease’ before the hard rocking ‘Farewell’, this is my favourite piece off the album is so flowing it just cries out for some Van Halen style lyrics.

The tempo is brought down just a touch with ‘Sunset Lights’, the rain swept intro is enlightened with in my opinion Sfogli’s finest solo on the entire album.  It soars and sways way above the norm and keeps you up there above the storm clouds for the entire track.

There’s another switch entirely as Sfogli brings in a little Electro Funk into the mix with ‘Genius’.  Again this change keeps the listener hooked as you're really not sure what’s coming next.

What is next is the Melodic/AOR sounding ‘Never Forget Me’, another gentle flowing piece which leads nicely into the ballad like (if there is such a thing as a guitar ballad) tones of ‘Memories’.

The album rounds off on a lighter note with the Country licks of ‘Texas BBQ’, a real hoedown redneck jamboree that completes on the best guitar albums I’ve heard in recent years. 

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