As previously reported guitarist Marco Sfogli, best known in metal circles for his work on DREAM THEATER vocalist James LaBrie's Elements Of Persuasion album from 2005, is gearing up for the release of his first solo album, There's Hope. Lion Music has confirmed February 15th as the official release date.

The tracklist for There's Hope is as follows: 'Still Hurts', 'Andromeda', 'Seven', 'There’s Hope', 'Spread The Disease', 'Farewell', 'Sunset Lights', 'Genius', 'Never Forgive Me', 'Memories', 'Texas BBQ'. Sfogli has issued a track-by-track overview, found below:

'Still Hurts': "This is my tribute to the '80s influences that I listened many years ago. I was born as hard rock guitar player, listening to bands like EUROPE, WINGER, DANGER DANGER, DEF LEPPARD and so on and this track reflects my earlier passion. In fact I choose it as opening track for its majestic 'in style' intro.

'Andromeda': "When I started writing this record my goal was to be as much spontaneous as possible. Wouldn't have been 'my' record without a modern, progressive tune...and there it is! Odd times, crazy runs, absolutely the most difficult and tricky song I recorded so far. Main verse in 11/16..."

'Seven': "Early traces of Seven can be found back in 2002 I guess, when I first heard it from my former keyboard player. The main theme was so strong that I decided to pick it up again and give it a new fresh Methenyan middle part (with a beautiful synth solo courtesy of Alex Argento). One of my favourite moment of this record."

'There's Hope': "I wrote this one as soon as I came back from the recording sessions of James Labrie's Elements Of Persuasion. I was lock and load and in the right mood to pop out a metal tune and here it is. John Macaluso did a great job on it! The title reflects my feelings I had after getting the LaBrie gig."

'Spread The Disease': "One of my dad's favourite. I always liked the blues players 'tastiness' and this is my humble tribute to this beautiful music."

'Farewell': "Probably the earliest song (and my dad's favourite... ). When I was 6, after the VAN HALEN binge, I discovered Joe Satriani who's been (and still is) one of my favourite guitar players. I wrote this one back in 1999 and recorded a demo just later. The lead on the demo had so much fire in it that I decided to keep it instead of trying to go for a 'good one'. I love this one, has so many memories in it."

'Sunset Lights': "The 7th track of an album is generally the ballad track. Originally intended to sound more folk-prog than now (think about THE CORRS who meet GENESIS). Later on was heavily modded to sound more guitar oriented than folk (Matt Guillory provided some cool tradeoffs in the middle). It's one of my favourite tunes if not my favourite one."

'Genius': "I discovered fusion music very late (and I thank my buddy Alex Argento about this). I wrote 'Genius' around 2004 but wasn't satisfied enough about the arrangement. So I asked Alex to put his hands on it and ended up being our first collaboration. The same tune (with different sounds and solo) can be found on Alex's solo record as well."

'Never Forgive Me': "I wasn't sure about this tune at first. To my ears might have sounded good if I had to put vocals on it. Since I'm a poor singer I decided to give it a try and record a very vocal oriented melody on the guitar. It worked for me and ended up on the record."

'Memories': "Whereas 'Genius' reflects my first collaboration with Alex Argento, 'Memories' marks my first collaboration with Matt Guillory. Was originally written before leaving for the Elements Of Persuasion world tour (and we actually played it during the tour as our solo spot). Very intimate and sweet, it shows how good guitar and piano can match."

'Texas BBQ': "One of my many passions...country? I admit it, I'm not a country player (and probably I'll never be), but I love the happiness that country music spread. Instead of saying 'bye' with a sad tune I decided to put this one as the ending track to leave the listener with a big smile on his face. It works for me, I wish it'll work for you as well!!!"

A video clip of Sfogli playing 'Andromeda' can be viewed below:

An audio clip from There's Hope along with two tracks from Elements Of Persuasion - one of them the bonus track 'Understand' - are available for streaming at this location.