When I hear that a guitarist will be releasing a solo cd, and doing the vocals (if there are any) themselves, I usually think not another ‘gotta get this out of my system’ records. And its either gonna be a load of instrumental vai/satriani esque widdle or something similar but with dodgy vocals, and the songs will suffer from a dose of virtuosity.
I am thankful to say that ‘Faces’ by Chris Caffery doesn’t fit into any of the above pigeon holes except the virtuosity bit, but trust me the songs aren’t lost because of overplaying. Caffery who’s business card announces him as “Chef, Gynecologist, Erotic Politician, Disney Addict, Sun Worshipper, President of the United States, Neuro-Surgeon, Nude Photographer” and, last but not least: “Guitarist” isn’t out to capture hearts by playing nice songs or who’ll flirt with commerciality to make a quick buck, but this is someone who lives & breathes his work bearing in mind such top names like Dio, Megadeth, Skid Row and UFO have all tried to get him onboard at one time or another, and not only that his resume features some of the most well known names in rock & metal.
From the militaristic opening of ‘Alas’ that wouldn’t be out of place on a dark 'mindcrime' ish epic to the vocal outro of the final track ‘abandoned’ Chris has produced a stunning debut. He definitely wears his influences proudly on his sleeve, one of whom Jon Oliva, Chris’ Savatage & Dr. Butcher bandmate has had an influence on his vocal style. Killer riffs punctuated by killer hooks litter this cd, not only can Chris Caffery play great guitar, he can write a great song, from the metallic chunk of metal with tongue planted firmly in cheek that is ‘pisses me off’ where we get to find out just what exactly pisses Chris off-(If you ever meet him, just don’t ever offer to take him to starbucks for a coffee!) to the acoustic stylings of ‘music man’, -which has been released an ep btw. The album shows diversity you wouldn’t generally expect from an established metal guitarist. The samewith ‘bag of bones’ Chris isn’t afraid to let his mellower side show through, this also gives a chance to get a better listen to his vocals and do what a lot of other dedicated guitar players cant do, and that is handle lead vox.
Faces is actually a double album with a second bonus disc, this isn’t the usual remix or couple of live tracks thrown together but it’s a full piece of music called ‘God damn war’, spread over 9 tracks it is at times more aggressive than the main cd. A highlight of ‘God damn war’ is Chris’s rendition of ‘amazing grace which segues with a gunshot into ‘piece be with you. This cd is in heavy rotation in my cd player, and justifiably so.
Now in preparation for his 1st solo tour and including a performance at 2005’s Wacken festival, I’d say the metal fraternity will be pleasantly surprised by what Chris Caffery has to offer. With influences from Priest, Metallica to Pantera & even a few Floydish moments coupled with the songwriting & arrangement skills that have made Savatage & TSO so successful he can’t go wrong, and he doesn’t! One of the things I’ve found in recent times with ‘established’ artists is that they generally won’t try anything different they fall into formula and stick with it, and sometimes they can try something so different that it blows up in their face... ‘St Anger’ anyone!
With ‘Faces’ Chris Caffery mightn’t set the world on fire for the simple fact is that the music press in general is very fickle, but overall ‘Faces’ is head and shoulders above a lot of the shit out there that passes for modern metal music that’s something that can’t be argued with nor ignored.
