The Undiscovered: Carlo A. Federici

Submitting his four-song demo CD-R is Italian guitarist Carlo A. Federici, a neo-classical instrumentalist who has put in the time with his instrument to be able to shred with all the familiar techniques found in the genre. The opening track, "Deep Ocean", features tons of sweeping and scorching solos, as does the second instrumental "Black Pearl", but not before beginning with clean guitar pyrotechnics in the vein of Marty Friedman's solo work. The third track, "Winds Of Hell" has a Black Sabbath vibe going for it, with Malmsteen-like leads, while "Venus" features harmonized lines, clean arpeggios, sound effects and keyboard violins. There are some issues with the demo - Federici recorded the tracks in his bedroom, so sound quality is poor. In addition, both "Deep Ocean" and "Winds Of Hell" have long, protracted intros that add nothing to the music, so Federici might be better served collaborating with other composers/engineers that also like the neo-classical style.

Carlo started playing guitar at the age of 10, and is completely self-taught. He listens to and learns from everything from classical to heavy metal - and everything in between. Carlo counts as his main musical influences such guitarists as Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen and Eddie Van Halen, but also likes Brett Garsed, Uli Jon Roth, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Compositional influences include Malmsteen, Nightwish, Stratovarius, J.S. Bach and L.V. Beethoven, but Carlo also draws inspiration from atmospheric music such as Enigma and movie soundtracks. When recording his demo tracks, Carlo plays all the instruments (guitar, bass, keyboards) except for drums.

Federici is studying chemistry at the university, but states that music is his passion, his dream is to live his passion, and he is ready to drop his studies in order to realize his dream.

Carlo A. Federici
Italy