9

Fret burning solo project

Salvo Vecchio was born in Torino, Italy, and fell in love with the guitar at the tender age of 14. He is basically self-taught, with a little help of some local tutors. Salvo attributes this obsession to a cassette given by a friend with Satch and Via. "The Warm Light of Night" is Vecchio's first solo album and was released in 2010 through SG Records and New LM Records.

'Solar Impulse' is a short tranquil intro to the album with gentle, almost Paul Gilbert sounding guitar and is complimented by the equally soothing outro, 'Strada Panoramica. Nestled between these tracks we have the fret burning licks of 'Salvation' and 'Dusty Road' which could have been on a Satch/Via/John 5 album. 'Seaward' and 'The Stream Of The River' have solid rock grooves whilst 'Rodeo Over-Drive' has a more bluegrass influence and again reminds me of some of John 5's solo projects; then we have 'Intense Horizons' that slides down the Gary Moore blues path.

All the tracks on the album was composed by Vecchio and co-produced by the keyboardist, Andrea Marincola. The rest of the recording was contributed by session musicians Cristiano Bertocchi, Luca Chiappara and Luca Bernazzi on bass; Alessio Lucatti on keyboards; Checco Savuoi on drums; and Gilbert Pot and Sted providing guitar solos on two tracks. The album was mostly recorded in Vecchio's house and mixed at Andrea Marincola's house; whilst the mastering was done at Simone Mularoni's studio.

"The Warm Light of Night" is a guitar solo product, but all the songs have the normal song structure with verse, chorus, solos and bridge, all that's missing is vocals. The best way to describe this record could be as a musician's journey through the various aspects of music that influenced him through the years. We travel from tranquil intros to heavy shredding rock metal fusion; and all the way back via some gentle blues, bluegrass and progressive rock. Whilst you could class Vecchio along with guitar gods such Satch and Via, he also reminded me a lot of Paul Gilbert (Racer X/Mr Big) and John 5(Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie). He is clearly a very talented guitarist, and "The Warm Light of Night" is not all about fret burning guitar solos, focusing just on speed and talent, but is also paying due attention to provide the groove.