FRANCESCO FARERI "Secrets Within" /CD/

Third full-length album by Greek Progressive Metal/Shred band of guitarist virtuoso Francesco Fareri.
The speed on this album is unreal, right from the get-go we start off with fast drums, chugging guitars and amazingly fast and clean keyboard playing. This all builds up tension and eventually the lead guitar comes in, with amazing fast playing. The album has an overall Progressive shred feeling to it with a fair amount of the songs clocking in at least over six minutes long and there is some neat odd time changes here and there adding to the craziness and chaos of the music. The guitar follows the keyboard melodies, really creates a nice contrast over the chugging backing rhythm, it provides quite an intense listen. In certain parts of the songs the tempo slows down and we get a nice middle 8 from the keyboards, only for a short period before going back into the intense shred guitars, it creates a great effect on the music. Francesco really proves he has great ability on the keyboard/piano as well as on the guitar. The guitar tone cuts through very well and has a lot of clarity to its sound. The bass from the great Kyle Honea is intense as well, some real virtuoso playing to be found. Drummer Lucrezio de Seta provides some great drumming on this record, mainly going for the fast and intense approach to his drumming here but handling all the different time changes very well. CD divided into two parts, one heavy ("Into the Dark Line" tracks 1-9) and one acoustic ("Out of the Dark Line" tracks 10-15). From tracks 10 the album takes a calmer approach, incorporating a big focus on piano/keyboard and also some nice acoustic guitar playing. The five tracks that follow, as said previously, are also a lot calmer compared to the earlier songs on the CD, and the album ends on a gentle note.
Overall, if you like instrumental guitar shred consisting of fast and relentless, intense playing, and a big Progressive vibe then this is definitely for you, a lot of the time the CD is like this, but also has some good variation in which it incorporates some calmer, shorter songs, particularly towards the end of the CD. The technique displayed on this CD is definitely to be noted, as it is fantastic from all the musicians on this CD!!
Lion Music, 2007 (SPR 0012). Made in Finland.


Tracklist:
1. Secrets Within 07:41
2. Circle 08:11
3. Lies 06:40
4. Sonic Garden 02:33
5. The Waves 06:42
6. Destiny 06:23
7. Liquid World 06:35
8. Present Glow 02:58
9. Scenes 08:46
10. Parallel Lives 02:49
11. Wood of Silence 01:34
12. Masquerade 03:35
13. Undefined 04:04
14. Seasons 02:34
15. Secret World 01:12
Total playing time: 01:12:17