ETTORE SALATI

This month's Artist in Spotlight is Ettore Salati from Italy. Ettore is a sought after session guitarist by many prog musicians not just in Italy but all around the world. He started playing piano at a very young age (mostly classical music) but when he became a teenager and discovered the world of Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and 70's rock in general, he was immediately fascinated by guitar... more

KAT EPPLE (Emerald Web)

KAT EPPLE, flautist and composer, is our interview guest this month. She has won 8 Emmy awards, was nominated for a Grammy and she has released 18 albums internationally. Most of you know her as the other half of the legendary ambient/new age duo EMERALD WEB. She has a very large collection (over 200) of flutes that she gathered from all around the world during her travels. Kat composes original New Age/Jazz/World/orchestral music and has produced film scores and television soundtracks for National Geographic, Nova, CNN, Carl Sagan, Another World, The Travel Channel, Turner Broadcasting System, History Channel, HGN, The Guiding Light, PBS, and NASA among others, and was Music Director for the feature-length film, Captiva Island. She also owns a record company and works on both sides of the music industry as a musician and as a business woman... more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

CAVEAT / RED

Another great band signed to Cyclone Records consisting of four members. On vocals and guitar is Greg Musgrave (ex Black Sky, Rob Spencer Band, Toke, Stonewater & Exit Strategy), Terry Baldwin on bass (Cryptomenesia), Percussions handled by Casey Rogers (Self Control) and former Thorazine axe man Joe Sikorski.

Although the third disc made available by these Great White Northerners, this is the first prog effort, as their previous offerings were accessible, straight ahead metal, they are now breaking the barriers of what is otherwise considered the rules of Prog. Caveat is starting where System of a Down leaves off, providing dark themes combined with surprising time changes and brilliant arrangements. The disc is an assault of furious metal with only one song under 5 minutes (MOB), but that song shockingly has enough diversity in it to give you your fill of prog. These are no amateurs, progressive musicians don't pop out of nowhere, they don't come out of the musical womb knowing syncopation, off beats, counter-point or time changes, they LEARN it - and Caveat have studied hard for the final test, passing with flying colors, showing their respect for the prog fathers that have gone on before them. While heavy, HEAVY sounding doom might not be for everyone, you'd be missing out on the experience of an insanely hard and heavy progressive disc if you passed on this one.

The album title, and also name of the opening track, Red has harmony guitar leads galore. The band proves that dueling guitar solos and harmonizing riffs do not just belong to Iron Maiden or Symphony X. Crossing punk, death and screeching vocals with some cool blood-curdling grit a la Godsmack. The twin guitar attacks can only be this tight if they are locked in like brothers, and these guys seem to be. The bassist (Baldwin) is just ripping right along side of them, never missing a beat. Casey, the bands phenomenal drummer, is convincing us all that this is a tight unit, not just four egotistical members competing for the spot light or writing filler spots to build up to the guitar solo or writing empty spots for a singer to do his part. Obviously Caveat planned their compositions from the beginning with a unified sole purpose of putting forth incredible music, for music's sake.

Full of surprises, like the off the wall interlude that starts out Sin or the freakish guitar dissonance on Within This Weakness, the band tastefully colors the canvas of their music... a not-so-expected element of hardcore bands. I remember reading somewhere that the early Genesis lineup would lock themselves in a rehearsal room and exchange ideas, practice and just basically jam for 10 to 14 hours a day. It wouldn't come as a shock to me to hear that Caveat has done the same thing with their time. Extremely tight breaks, scaling bridges that will make your brain hurt and unexpected endings with musical twists are all the more reasons to be convinced that this band is not stuck in any musical rut. Even if death metal type vocals are not your cup of tea, do not make the mistake of putting Musgrave in a box. The vocals are as diverse as they are ballsy. They've got themselves a dream team band here, all the right members making all the right music.

While the band offers fascinating trips into heavy metal versions of Yes, King Crimson and even Gentle Giant, I'm hard pressed to nail down who these guys sound like - and that's a great thing! Of course at times I can't help but reference parts that remind me of something, like My Messiah, which I envision Rob Zombie sounding like if he turned up the intensity knob to 11.

However, I did notice a couple regressions into their former primitive state when they were not a prog band. Tracks like Sin find the vocalist taking the easy way out with melody lines that simply follow the guitar chord progression. Vicious Circle, which is probably a killer mosh staple in their live shows is nothing short of a metal format from their former years - my least favorite track on the album. The only other thing I'd like to see, taking this band to the next level, are maybe some harmony vocal parts on the clean passages when the band breaks it down and the vocalist is naked.

Even if I've already used this term, I have to sum this album up with the word: diverse. Low passages remind me of Marillion, Narnia, Jane's Addiction - but definitely original and not sounding like anyone else. The heavier, dark sounds are reminiscent of Pantera or Six Feet Deep. Go ahead dismiss all the references to other bands, Caveat is in a league of their own granting us bone crushing metal that pays homage to the prog greats... a fine marriage indeed.

Find them at www.caveatmusic.com and www.myspace.com/caveatsmusic and purchase their CD at: Cyclone Records

DALE JUDAY