The guitarist and songwriter of
progressive rock known as Joe Cantamessa has released his debut solo
EP record, “Transcending.” The extended-play album contains 18
minutes of listening and has been proudly published as an independent
release without the direction or influence of the corporate music
industry. Sonorous, passionate, towering and inspiring, Joe
Cantamessa's “Transcending” EP truly delivers on its title.
New Jersey's Joe Cantamessa cites as
influences classical re-visionary Neil Zaza, Dream Theater founders
John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy, composer Paganini, prog death metal
group Ne Obliviscaris, Australian instrumental rocker Robert
Spurling, French black metal band Peste Noire, classic rock legend
Captain Beefheart, and the fundamental prog-rock crew, Yes.
Cantamessa's own “Transcending” EP
is a genuine, green branch of the prog rock movement that brings it
thriving into the 21st century. While he is not alone in
this, “Transcending” stands as one of the best examples of indie
prog since the scene's revival over the last decade.
Joe Cantamessa describes his debut solo
album as “a four-track EP that sets the mood for one's own mental
imagery. The absence of words allows you to focus solely on the music
and gives you a consistent stimulus that shuts out distractions from
your environment.”
That instrumental narrative like this
thrums at the core of the progressive rock movement should not
surprise the prog-rock fan. What is surprising, however, is how
effective, evocative and even visceral a four-song EP by a solo
artist can be. The tracks on “Transcending” dovetail into and out
of one another. They rise and swirl like bats from a cave. They dive
into the chest of the listener and become unexpected feelings, fresh
ideas from somewhere in the aether.
While one could wax poetic about
Cantamessa's expertise on guitar, really it is his highly melodic,
highly intuitive songwriting which overachieves. He's developed his
seemingly innate writing skill over a slew of music projects (I Am
the Trireme, Inanimate, Remnants of Winter, The Banner, Desolate
Sorrow) but as is often the case, it may be his time as a music
teacher which has ultimately refined his creativity.
Joe Cantamessa has been playing guitar
since the age of 13. He has cut several records, including
full-lengths, and is professionally endorsed by Colorado's The
Guitarmory, Ltd., who provides a Joe Cantamessa signature
guitar-pickup set and Guitarmory D3-7 guitar.
Definitive proof that all the above
results in high-grade, top-shelf, cutting-edge progressive rock may
easily be sampled at the artist's official website (link provided
below).
The “Transcending” EP by Joe
Cantamessa is available at over 700 online music stores worldwide
now. Get in early, prog rock fans.
-S. McCauley
Lead Press Release Writer
www.MondoTunes.com
Link to Music –
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