The pompous, epic feeling of Savatage is present in some songs of this album and no matter how personal the guitarist wanted his first solo album to be, he did take some influences with him from his time in the band. This is not to say that there is no personality found on this album or that it is complete Savatage copy because it most definitely is not. "Faces" is a very suitable title for the album because Chris Caffery shows many different sides of himself here, providing many varied songs, ranging from slower and more atmospheric ones to fast and powerful ones. In general you could say that he has added influences from European power metal to the traditional hard rock sound where Savatage comes in once again as a major input. Musically, "Faces" is more diverse than most Savatage albums, and Chris shows us that he knows his scales very well but also emotional solos and one or two Yngwie show-offs, not going to excess with anything.

Apparently the Savatage guitarist did not know that he could sing until he bought himself a computer studio set and this is where the history of this solo album begins. He did in the end decide to sing himself and the result is quite impressive, considering the fact that he has close to no previous experiences. This does however also mean that he has not had the time to develop his own style of singing and this is also where he borrows the most from Savatage as his singing reminds a lot of what Jon Oliva used to produce behind the microphone before [making the mistake of] handing it over to a certain Zachary Stevens. Even though he should definitely thank Jon Oliva for part of this album we must not forget that it takes a very skilled song writer and musician to write an album like this one. "Faces" is a solid debut that should be appreciated by most fans of heavily guitar driven hard rock. Awaiting a new Savatage album this most certainly will do.

written by Vincent Eldefors

Playing time: 76.18