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With House Of Insanity Savatage guitarist Chris Caffery is presenting his 4th solo album - and again he played most instruments and also produced the album. Even if Caffery played drums before picking up the guitar, John Macaluso plays drums on House Of Insanity. Keyboards and backing vocals have been done by Lonnie Park. Beside that you can hear a few guest at his latest piece of work.
In the past fans wanted to hear something more similar to Savatage - so this time they can't complain, but I guess his critics will find something different to complain about.... Okay, Chris Caffery isn't the best singer, but its something he works on and you can hear he's making progress.
The opener is called Seasons Change, a fast rocker with heavy riffs and his typical vocals and melodic backings. You can hear the anger in his voice, while the melodic guitar line and the backings are the counter part. Next in line is the title track House Of Insanity. This one has elements he already used at Faces, but adds some voices, strange laughter and weird sounds. This is taking you to the house of insanity! But I guess he's pushing too far for many metal fans... Like Pins And Needles was challenging the listener, he doesn't take the easy way. For Savatage fans I Won't Know is probably one of the songs they find easy to get in, but again you can hear elements he already used at his solo debut. At The Fleas ex-Megadeth guitarist Glenn Drover plays the leads. Partly he leaves the typicial metal guitar behind, but he did that before. With Madonna he wrote a very emotional, very personal ballad, something he wouldn't have done years ago. He got joined by Doctor Butcher bassist Brian Gregory on this one. Big Brother is based on heavy riffing, first a bit doomy, then he speeds up. This track is bringing back Savatage - at least partly -, but he's adding his own style to it. Not staying within the limits. For Back's To The Wall he slows down again and present a melodic tune. Partly he sounds like he wants to give up, while the backings are more in the vein of Savatage. And the guitar leads carries a spark of hope. At Solitaire you might wonder about the vocals, but here Caffery is teaming up with Zak Stevens. And it's good to hear them together again! Surely one of the highlights. Having Zak Stevens taking over the lead vocals shows that Caffery isn't afraid of getting criticized for his singing, coz this is will make you compare them. With Shame he presents another heavy one, but again with melodic backings / chorus. Great guitar play. Another balladesque one is Winter In Hamburg where Paul LaPlaca plays keyboards. The song reflects how much things changed through the years and also how people changed. The songs ends with acoustic guitar, getting back to the opening theme. No Matter What sticks out, coz the guitars are different... Partly you get metal riffs, but also some passages which remind me of Clapton... Then the metal riffs come back. Quite catchy. The closer is a cover version of Bob Marley's Get Up, Stand Up. Well, I'm not a fan of reggae, but the metallic version is fun.
One more time... This isn't Savatage, this is a Chris Caffery solo album! If he would release an album which sounds more like Savatage, everybody would say they should bring back Savatage instead of him doing a Savatage-sounding album. Well, even if this has elements of the Savatage sound, it also has other sound elements... Other influences. Chris Caffery sticks to his style, not trying to please everybody. If you like it or not, you have to credit him for this!
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