03 A TRILOGY PART 1

Charlie Dominici is a name familiar to every prog metal fan. After being fired from Dream Theater he disappeared from the music industry, came back some fifteen years later inspired by his performance with DT in 2004. This album was his first offering, and it is a great introduction to the ambitious concept behind the whole trilogy.

O3 Part 1 is drastically different from the other two albums as this one is has only Charlie, his acoustic guitar and harmonica. The style of the songs is very much in the vein of the singer/songwriter genre and the whole album is carried with Dominici's strong voice. The accompanying guitar and harmonica backings are basic, but yet intricate enough to give colour to the arrangements. I must applaud Dominici for the concept of the album, a sleeper cell terrorist planted into a western country (presumably USA) and battling between his loyalty to his leaders and the love for his new country. The concept sounds clichéd, but is still strangely endearing and spellbinding. I found the lyrics to be good, and especially the imagery in The Dream was fantastic and dreamlike as the title says.

All in all, a good comeback album from Dominici, but much better was in store for next. 3 stars.