Riccardo Gioggi is an Italian guitar virtuoso and composer. He started his professional career in 2004 and he worked together with bands like Damage Done and The Electric Diorama. Furthermore he participated in several other projects such as the opera A Secret Rose, and he performed with the Roma Electric Orchestra. Thanks to this orchestra his reputation grew in Italy, but also abroad. In 2012 Riccardo Gioggi composed, produced and engineered his solo debut A Theory Of Dynamics. The album was released by the Digital Nations label founded by the legendary American guitar player Steve Vai. Gioggi recorded this album together with Simone Del Pivo (drums, percussion), Marco Mastrobuono (bass guitar), Francesco Maras (percussion), Andrea Grant (piano, string programming), Leonardo Spinedi (violin), Francesco Parente (cello) and Michael Manring (bass, hyper bass). The opening track Time Rush sounds rather funky, but it's a demonstrative example of guitar-orientated music. The following track Dreamt 11 seems to be an allusion to Joe Satriani's Dreaming #11 (1988) in particular concerning the characteristics of the guitar sound. Designs, my favourite track on A Theory Of Dynamics, opens with quite a mysterious melody; in the remainder of this piece you can enjoy some acoustic guitar, violins and electric guitar solos. For The Spy Song even a video clip has been made. The song gives you the feeling that you're being chased, but it sounds just astonishing! Every Single Step deals with the development of mankind from the first small steps in the ancient history to the actual great achievements. On Meridians the overall mood of the album stabilizes, although Even Tide can be regarded as a blues-rock piece. Air is a refreshing acoustic piece featuring the acclaimed bassist Michael Manring. The last song on A Theory Of Dynamics summarizes the main themes of the album: melody combined with technique. I would like to recommend this great album to people who like the guitar playing of Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and Guthrie Govan (ex- Asia). ****+ Zafer Yüksel (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
