“Trilogy”
SIN73
Tin Idol Productions
From the moment they introduced themselves with “Jesus Christ Supernova,” the music of “Jesus Christ Superstar” re-imagined as heavy metal rock, in 2013, Gerard K. Gonsalves and Tin Idol Productions have successfully explored fresh concepts in the Hawaii music scene. The label’s most expansive project to date is a metal rock saga of intergalactic war between cyborgs and “renegade tech pirates” that took three full-length albums to tell. “Trilogy” now presents the three albums — “The Citadel” (2015), “Hell Hath No Fury” (2016) and “New Genesis” (2017) — in a single package.
SIN73 is Gonsalves (drums/keyboards), Darren Soliven (bass/keyboards) and Jimmy Caterine (guitars/keyboards). Vocalist Mark Caldeira stars as war-weary cyber-soldier D3V1N with Sandy Essman as his wife/cyber-soldier ANG3LA.
Visit reverbnation.com/SIN73.
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“Love and Lightning”
“Lightning” Larry Dupio
No label
Big Island-based blues-rocker “Lightning” Larry Dupio won a Na Hoku Hanohano Award (best rock album) in 2018 and since then has rocked Waikiki at the Blue Note Hawaii. Dupio’s new album, “Love and Lightning,” is a collection of 12 originals that represents several styles of traditional American music. With another nomination this year, it could put him back in the winners’ circle at the Hokus in September.
Dupio opens with a pair of songs that celebrate island living in such similar style that they could be edited together as single suite. The first, “Be Alive,” establishes the theme. The second, “Sun Is Sun,” states the obvious in witty, winning style. A reference to “standing at the edge of my life” in a third song also demonstrates Dupio’s knack for crafting memorable lyric images.
Dupio renews his commitment to the blues with an autobiographical slice-of-life song titled “You Ought to Know” — and we certainly hope that the person he’s addressing gets the message! He displays his instrumental technique with “That Thang,” and on two blues instrumentals “So You Said” and “No Rules.”
The album is officially a solo project, but Dupio gives several friends significant time in the spotlight. Pianist Dave Millington adds some ear-catching work on “Short Time,” and saxophonist Jesse Snyder trades the lead spot with Dupio on those two blues instrumentals.
The vocal spot on another song goes to Joy McCluer; she does a convincing job tapping into the poignant emotions of a lost-love number titled “True Love.” Four songs later, guest vocalist Scott Reagan sounds like he’s channelling Jim Morrison on “A Story of the Blues” — that isn’t a bad thing.
There are also a couple of outliers. One of them is “It Can’t Wait,” a contemporary protest song, where Dupio switches from the blues to standard Afro-Caribbean rhythms.
Visit larrydupio.com.
