A few weeks ago Frank Caruso, guitarist of
Italian Progressive Power Metal band Arachnes contacted me
and asked me if I was interested in reviewing his solo album
“Kaleidoscope”. HELL… YEAH!!! I’m totally into the way Frank
Caruso handles his instrument in Arachnes so I was more
than thrilled to check out “Kaleidoscope”.
Frank
Caruso
started
to play guitar and piano at the age of 8 and at that age he
immediately started to study Classical music. Since then he has
released albums with Macid, Firehouse, and of course
Arachnes. He has worked with several artists of the Italian
scene and as a session-guitarist in various studio recordings.
Before Arachnes
was born he created music for television… collaborating with some of
the greatest Italian television bands.
But let us get back to “Kaleidoscope”, shall we?
We get 13 tracks of first class music; Neo-classical, Hard Rock, and
a tad of Blues. The guitar riffs here on “Kaleidoscope” could very
well have been written by Ritchie Blackmore himself and so could
some of the guitar-solos. Of course other guitarists comes to mind
when I’m listening to this album; Vinnie
Moore, Satriani, Malmsteen and
Marty Friedman.
What I really like about this album is that it’s not
all about a million boring guitar solos but catchy riffs and hooks…
peppered with very catchy and memorable guitar solos… what more can
you ask for?
Out of the 13 tracks 2 of them are not instrumental.
Enzo Caruso, vocalist in Arachnes lend his voice on the last
track “Labyrinth” as well as on the
Rainbow
cover “Kill the King”.
To name any standout tracks is very difficult because
I find every single track excellent but if should name a few tracks
it will be track number 3 “Metal Force” with its driving and
hypnotic riff and more than beautiful melody-line. Or what about
“Shadows”? Frank Caruso’s playing is out of this world on
that track… at least in my world, because I can’t seem to get it out
my head.
Well… I’m also very fond of “Parallel Worlds”, an
instrumental version of a track there is to be found on the
Arachnes album… “Parallel Worlds”. “Kaleidoscope” comes with a
good production done by Frank Caruso and now I hope that some
day he will release a follow-up to “Kaleidoscope”.
A new guitar-hero is born!
