By: Matthew Hoffman
nother new and extraordinary guitarist has tossed his pick into the malaise
that is guitar hero worship. This gentleman's name is Dean Cascione and he has
wonderful feel for both acoustic and electric neo-classic shred genres.
Hailing from Massachusetts should with this technique and feel become a bright
star on the international guitar scene very soon.
This release is a really unique one as it sails from acoustic flamenco-like
notes into a harried vicious chop-a-second approach. The best thing is that
all of it works and blends seamlessly into one cool ass summer album. This
album is harsh enough to raise the eye brows of extreme metal fans while
having a soft side for that special lady in your life. There is something here
for everybody.
While kicking back on a lounge chair at a neighborhood bbq with a cold Miller
Lite or snuggling on a soft couch sipping a glass of $15 Riesling this sick
Italian can help with either "mood."
Alba is a beautiful romantic cut that sounds bit Latin flavored and ends with
a few unique Asian notes.
The vicious high tech ability in the aggressive neo-classic realm immediately
smacks u in the "chops" as "Molto Veloce" jumps ahead with amazingly crisp and
fresh Impelitteri sounding licks. The thing that makes this different from the
986 Yngwie impersonators appearing every year since 1985 or so, is that he has
all the technique and also buckets full o' emotion. Frenchy Guillame Sylvin
provides the live and spirited if largely basic drumming here with some wicked
tone.
The flamenco technique on "Sunrazor" and Dean's layers of acoustic notes in
rhythm and lead are dripping with tears. Yes peeps this one may take you down
a road you certainly did not expect when you bought what you thought was a
shred record. Holy #$% is this wonderful song. It's possibly one of the best
in years in the solo instrumental guitar world.
He rotates between serene and melancholic and into aggressive and frantic on
this record so often that you may wonder if someone switched CDs in the
changer. On that very theme Dean rips Mach 7 tones forward on the next ditty
the albums title track. His speedy and vicious striking of the strings up and
down approximately a minute into the frey make for an almost bull fighter
scene where the tension rises and then he slows it down a bit after the young
handsome young animal's protagonist is gored and left to die.
The rest of the CD is just as pure and spectacular. This includes the cover
art of Weiye Yin who conceived the picture of a futuristic wildman with
sabers for arms.
The only critique of this record is that 27 minutes is a bit short for a full length
album, so a bit more content would have been nice. Regardless of the shortness this
is a "top" candidate for album of the year in 2008 and is "highly" recommended.
Pick up his record a.s.a.p at www.guitar9.com.
Hardrock Haven rating: 8.6/10
My Points: 83/100
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Vol. 16, No. 6: Apr.-May 2012
