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Chris
Caffery obtained world fame as guitar player of Savatage and
Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This last band is famous – especially in
America – and have their albums under the Christmas tree almost
every year. Chris’ state of services has assumed immense shape now,
as one can see in his discography. A real solo album of this busy,
talented man was something we could expect. Here it is, called
‘Faces’. And I can immediately recommend it to everyone who likes
Savatage. In this case, the making of a solo album was no project to
release some material which didn’t fit the main band, but just a
result of a never ending stream of inspiration.
Be
fast to buy this, for together with ‘Faces’ there’s a delivery of a
40 minutes long bonus CD ‘God Damn War’ wherein Chris elucidates the
dramatic and futile aspect of all those conflicts in this world.
So it
is clearly an album of a Savatage musician. One can hear it in the
title track that rocks in familiar ways. Chris does a fine job as
singer (for the first time) and his guitar sounds a bit oriental
here. Also ‘Remember’ and ‘Evil is as Evil’ suit in the row of
Savatage allied tracks. But Caffery is a musician with an open mind
for new developments in metal. One can perceive any Machine Head and
Korn elements in heavy tracks as ‘The Fall’ and ‘The Mold’. Well
done!
American choirs (‘Fade into the X’) and a smooth production, where
by names such as Skid Row and Great White come bubbling up in my
mind, we find in ‘Music Man’. Exceptional is the Beastie Boys
kindred ‘Pisses me off’, supported by marvellous guitar-work. But
the man has got a sensitive part too, with as summit of tearjerkers
‘Never’. The acoustic ‘Bag O’Bones’ is not to distain too. To stay
briefly, one can enjoy more than an hour of exciting and diverse
material of a talented musician here. I had seen ‘Faces’ announced
for a long time by Black Lotus and now that it has been released, it
turned out to be a stunner. A satisfied Savatage adept spoke to you… |
