There's just something liberating about listening to great guitar music. It didn't take rockers long to catch on to the fact that a great guitar solo in the middle of a song can give the composition that extra exclamation point to carry the message home. Electric guitar all-instrumental albums are relatively new to contemporary Christian music, but welcome nonetheless.
Jeff Scheetz calls his second power trio release Dig. Scheetz has great fret skills, and puts these to a variety of uses on this disc. The highlights include "Rush Hour" which reminded me of something Al Dimeola might do. Picture Spanish surf guitar, and you'll start to get an idea what this note fury sounds like.
Other standouts include the title track, with its mild funk beat and great power riffing mid-tune, as well as "King's Triumph" which calls on multi-layered guitar effects and cadenced drumming to give it that royal flavor. Scheetz closes the session with aptly named "Lime Green Leisure Suite Blues," which features a slew of great blues playing. Playing one too many lounge shows can cause these blues. At least Scheetz has put his pain to good use.
Dig, however, suffers from too many numbers which stick closely to standard metal melodic structures. One hopes that next time Scheetz will stretch out and move beyond the constrictive stylistic barriers of modern hard rock.
By opening with J.S. Bach's "Joy," Fourth Estate announces that its influences are nearly boundless. The group has an advantage over Scheetz in that it is a three-piece band, instead of a soloist with a backing unit. Its songs sound like group efforts with each instrument contributing almost equally to each number's direction.
Dave Beegle's emotional guitar playing shines throughout. He has the ability to push each song along, without making these compositions mere setups for his solos. Fourth Estate is able to have one hard rockin' hoedown on the country flavored "Mason Street Shuffle," and then totally switch gears for the reflective "Routier." Maybe it's just the Scottish in me, but I immediately fell for the bagpipe with strings sound of "Highlander" which sounded authentic, without coming off like some goofy Big Country rip off.
Fourth Estate's consistent inventiveness makes Finesse and Fury constantly listenable, even with repeated hearings. Scheetz lets the world know that he's a guitar slinger to be reckoned with. Metal fans will surely have a field day with Dig, while rockers with more diverse tastes most certainly need to pick up Fourth Estate.
As Fourth Estate writes in the liner notes, "No synthesizers, keyboards, or samplers were used in this recording." To Mr. Scheetz and Fourth Estate I say a hardy, "Long live the electric guitar!"
3.5/5