Cognition, the first solo album from Jimmy Dee Caterine - veteran of such rock and metal bands as Sacred Rite, Tragic Nancy and Time Machine, and a guitarist who's also adept at playing bass, drums and piano - restored my faith in instrumental solo albums. Since the 2003 release of that record, I've noticed a shift among other guitar virtuosos, who now seem to realize that albums deprived of imagination and rife only with faster-than-thou fretwork simply won't cut it with listeners sifting through an overabundance of music options.
I'm please to report that Caterine's second album, Fear - Pain - Love, follows in the grand musical footsteps of its predecessor, albeit without keyboards this time. From the over-the-top onslaught of "Prelude to the End of Time" and "March of Doom" to the delicate ambience of "Mother of Sorrow" and "Parlez-vous Francais," Caterine's music evokes images conveyed in his song titles. This music needs neither lyrics nor additional players to make it come alive. For proof, just listen to Caterine emote on "Forgotten Love" - it'll give you chills. No wonder this guy and his previous bands have opened for the likes of Ronnie Montrose, Ozzy Osbourne and Yngwie Malmsteen.
It's worth noting that Caterine (who survived a car crash in 2001 that left him blind in his left eye) actually began recording Fear - Pain - Love in 1993 but did not finish it. In 1997, he discovered that the tapes containing the original tracks had been mistaken for blank and rerecorded over. All that remained were rough mixes and basic tracks that Caterine has now pieced together and added to, resulting in a record that may be even better than Cognition.
Track Listing:
1) Looking Glass
2) Blind Sight
3) Blue Sky or Carbon Monoxide
4) Prelude to the End of Time
5) Forgotten Love
6) Tetris/Emotional Rain
7) Not My Horse
8) March of Doom
9) Mother of Sorrow
10) Parlez-vous Francais
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