Angra - Rebirth
By Graham Boyle
When 3 members left Angra after their last album and tour, I like many thought that the band were finished. I had always thought that the genius and driving force behind the band was Andre Matos, now with the release of 'Rebirth', I realize that he was not. The band with 3 new members, singer Eduardo Falaschi has a powerful, yet similar voice to Matos, yeah comes across much more aggressive than his predecessor ever did. The music is much the same as we've come to know from Angra, accept there are not too many fast songs anymore. The tradional classical opener 'In Excelsis', is followed by the heavy riffing of 'Nove Era' and the first time you hear this you could be forgiven for thinking that Matos was still in the band. Throughout the album, the songs are all of high quality, that Angra sound remains, with some new elements. There are some keyboards, but the never over powering, the guitars are always at the forefront, with lots twin harmonies and plenty of dueling solo's.
The production by Dennis Ward (PC69 and Adagio) dosen't seem to be as powerful as we heard on the bands previous 2 full albums, but no the less is still very good.
A welcome return from one of the world's premier metal bands, who have surprised me by coming up with something so good. With the rather disappointing Virgo, Matos first post Angra effort and the failure of Shaman (his other band) to release anything, shows just how much Angra able to prove to everyone that the recent upheavals haven't affected the quality of their music.
4/5
www.angra.net
By Graham Boyle
When 3 members left Angra after their last album and tour, I like many thought that the band were finished. I had always thought that the genius and driving force behind the band was Andre Matos, now with the release of 'Rebirth', I realize that he was not. The band with 3 new members, singer Eduardo Falaschi has a powerful, yet similar voice to Matos, yeah comes across much more aggressive than his predecessor ever did. The music is much the same as we've come to know from Angra, accept there are not too many fast songs anymore. The tradional classical opener 'In Excelsis', is followed by the heavy riffing of 'Nove Era' and the first time you hear this you could be forgiven for thinking that Matos was still in the band. Throughout the album, the songs are all of high quality, that Angra sound remains, with some new elements. There are some keyboards, but the never over powering, the guitars are always at the forefront, with lots twin harmonies and plenty of dueling solo's.
The production by Dennis Ward (PC69 and Adagio) dosen't seem to be as powerful as we heard on the bands previous 2 full albums, but no the less is still very good.
A welcome return from one of the world's premier metal bands, who have surprised me by coming up with something so good. With the rather disappointing Virgo, Matos first post Angra effort and the failure of Shaman (his other band) to release anything, shows just how much Angra able to prove to everyone that the recent upheavals haven't affected the quality of their music.
4/5
www.angra.net
