The last Savatage album dates already from 2000 and Chris told me in the interview I had with him during Bospop that they have not even started to record a new album... But, fortunately Chris Caffery releases two solo albums now and I can tell you that they are probably even better than the new Savatage material... The 25 tracks on the two CDs are true melodic heavy metal songs, powerful, progressive and Chris plays his guitar like never before. And that is without any doubt the most distinctive difference between Savatage and this material, almost all the songs are really guitar driven and the guitar solos are speedy, melodic and heavenly; like for example in a song called "The Mold".

The band that plays along with Chris on the two albums consists of: Paul Morris(ex-Rainbow), keyboards and piano, Jeff Plate, drummer of Savatage since 1994 and Dave Z (bassguitar). Maybe the greatest surprise on this album is the fact that Chris sings like a young metal god, a mix of Jon Oliva, Alice Cooper and David Lee Roth, need I say more?? The music on both albums could best be described as Doctor Butcher meets Savatage, or Alice Cooper meets the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

As there are 25 songs divided over the two CDs I will not go into detail about every song, but I will write something about the highlights of Chris's fabulous music. "Fade Into The X" is a fantastic heavy rocker, which could be best described as a modern version of material from the Savatage album "Hall of the Mountain King". Another song that I have to mention is "Never", which starts with an electrifying guitar solo and then evolves into a super power ballad with lots of guitar solos and melodies. On the diverse guitar dominated track "Jealousy" Chris sings like Alice Cooper, which makes this one also one of the best songs on "Faces". The almost instrumental "Preludio" is a must for guitar freaks (like me), I did not know that Chris could play like this; bloody hell!! "God Damn War" is ofcourse a concept album about the Iraq war and is more dramatic and lyrically critical than "Faces". The title track kicks off with a chopper sound, a siren and some explosions, before the guitars come crashing in; it has a great chorus, a fantastic guitar melody and some really aggressive vocals. "Saddamize" is probably the most experimental song on the album and is filled with Arabic influences, narrations (critical) and Chris's shouting and guitar picking. I could go on like this, but it is better if you just buy these albums and listen to them yourself. If you like Savatage with balls and lots of guitar solos, then you got to have "Faces/God Damn War", believe me, you will not be disappointed!!! Best track to listen to, if you still have doubts, "Abandoned".