An instrumental progressive-metal unit, Tree of Life have released their long awaited debut album Awakening Call. Employing a heavy blend of blistering prog-metal, hard rock, jazz, and classical music that invokes names like Dream Theater, Neal Morse, Steve Vai, and Extreme among others; Tree of Life artfully blends technical, melodic and emotional elements, masterfully and effortlessly. The result is a wonderfully instrumental extravaganza that makes this record a truly distinctive one.
AWAKENING CALL: THE ALBUM
Tree of Life is the product of a musical collaboration born in Venezuela back in 2015. Fueled by a desire to breathe new ideas into the modern progressive-metal genre, guitarrist, composer and main creative force behind the project Carlos Hernandez began collaborating with bassist Fernando Fossi and later with world renowned multi-instrumentalist Eric Gillette to create a rich, vibrant, and aurally engaging musical experience.
What started as jam/recording sessions simply for fun eventually turned into a full-fledged musical endeavor forged by the love for progressive music and rock in general. The recording sessions for Awakening Call began in October of the same year when Carlos and Fernando determined they had enough material for an album. A year after, the music on the album was almost 100% written, along with basic guitar and bass tracks.
THE MUSICIANS
"We first started working on the album with no intentions other than having fun and playing the music we love. We had difficulties along the process that we successfully overcame". Bassist Fernando Fossi continues: "Carlos was having a very creative period and despite of not having a drummer, we decided to continue recording all the ideas expecting to find the right guy for the job"
To complete the line up Hernandez collaborated with multi-instrumentalist Eric Gillette (Neal Morse Band) who besides being widely revered as a rising star in the international guitar firmament, is also capable of playing drums and keyboards like the best there is.
All guitar and bass tracking were done at Hernandez's home studio in Lecherias – Venezuela and the record was later mixed and mastered by Eric Gillette.
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Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal - E-Zine
