BETWEEN THE MUSIC AND LATITUDE

As a fusion/prog project this album is simply breathtaking, because It has supreme technicality to it as well as great feeling and athmosphere. The Citriniti bros from Italy make these technical patterns and blazing fast arpeggios sound easy, and when you add one of the best guitarists of Italy in the mix, you have my favorite band. The songs in this album are different in style, because the solos are performed by various guitarists. Songs like: Naked words, Test, Comedown and Ritual are bit jazzy and weird, but rest of the songs: Inferno, Time out, Latitude, Drunk and Invisible sound little like some Tech metal bands like: Spiral Architect and Meshuggah, especially the bass lines. Fabrizio Leos appearance in this album is virtuosic, due his great alt-picking skills and sweep picking techniques. This guitarist is influenced by guitarists like: Vinnie Moore and Steve Lukather, and he plays in a pioneer tech/fusion band.(odd?)

The past decade has seen the fusion of metal and jazz music reach a state of virtual perfection. Although bands will come and go, it seems that the collective consciousness of metalheads have fine-tuned fusion metal to a science. Citriniti is one of those 21st century acts that aims for that golden ration of metal and jazz in equal measures. With their second album (and first under the band name Citriniti), 'Between The Music And Latitude' showcases the work of a trio of musicians who have formed an incredible chemistry with each other. A mind-boggling meeting of quirky compositions and virtuosic musicianship makes this a fusion lover's paradise.

Jazz metal in earnest first sprung out of the Floridan death metal scene, where household names like Atheist and Cynic would season their tech death stylings with jazzy undertones. Citriniti takes this fusion between genres much farther, often to the point where a listener could define the music as being one or the other. Running a parallel with the virtuosic jazzmanship of Pat Metheny, Citriniti funnels their incredible skill through very complex songwriting, occasionally bringing memorable hooks into the music, but generally focusing on creating complex orchestrations and templates where the band can play off of each other.

Although there are a host of guest musicians here to add extra layers onto the album, Citriniti is essentially a power trio, and it is pretty incredible what they can do with that line- up. Armed with a drum kit, a bass and guitar, the brothers Citriniti, and guitarist Fabrizio Leo usually play in equal balance with each other; that is, no one musician takes a bigger slice of the mix over the others. Fabrizio Leo's guitar work is focused on awe-inspiring lead sweeps and jazz-infused leads, although he does not forget to throw a few metal riffs our way. Domenico Citriniti's bass work is a defining trait of the band, often noodling around with quirky slap bass rhythms that lead in and out the songs. Danilo Citriniti's performance on the drums is not as impressive as the string players, but while his playing feels simplistic by comparison, it is only because there is so much going on overtop the drums that Danilo seems to get held back a little too much, although he does not forget to rip up the drums during the more intense moments in the album.

This fusion of prog metal and jazz is a working formula, although I may have liked to hear the band get a little heavier at times, for the sake of dynamic. Citriniti are one of the most talented underground prog metal acts I have heard, and their chemistry works brilliantly with the fusion template. As an album however, 'Between The Music And Latitude' lacks the sort of flow and cohesion that I normally associate with a masterpiece of the genre. Domenico's slap bass work is fun and technically impressive, but starts to feel just a tad overdone by the end of the album. Fabrizio Leo's beautiful sweeps stand out to me the most here, although each member of the band brings something excellent. For any fan of fusion metal, or even someone wanting to hear what a collision of metal and jazz music sounds like, 'Between The Music And Latitude' comes highly recommended.