When I opened my mail last week and discovered I had received a copy of the new
Angra album I was seriously overjoyed.
Angra is one of my all time favorite bands, and with the exception of their
Fireworks album (which was tremendously mediocre), I feel that all of their work thus far has been exceptional. The Melodic Power Metal sub genre has grown increasingly over saturated throughout the past few years, and as much as I love the stuff, nowadays it takes something truly special to garner my attention.
Angra's previous album
Rebirth genuinely was a rebirth for the band as they emerged from a near breakup with three new members and a polished sound. The music on
Rebirth was a drastic improvement over
Fireworks, though I felt the band could have gone one step further to separate themselves from the other Power Metal bands out there. With their newest release
Temple of Shadows, they have done just that, and finally produced the album I always knew they could create. Explosive, melodic, and surprisingly eclectic,
Temple of Shadows is the best album
Angra has made to date.
After the obligatory symphonic first track, (usually these are unnecessary - here it works well), the album explodes in a fury of speedy guitars and double bass drum work with
Spread Your Fire. While not breaking any new ground as far as speedy Power Metal tracks go, the energy and technical skills of guitarists Rafael Bittencourt and Kiko Loureiro turn what could have been an average Metal track into a killer opener. The guitar melody that comes in around the 10-second mark is one of the most uplifting, joyous melodies I've heard in awhile. I had to keep restarting the song because I wanted to hear that brief passage repeatedly when I first heard it. Another aspect that I noticed was Edu's rougher vocals on this track. I wasn't expecting his vocal style to change so dramatically, but after listening to TOS a few times I found that it fit the album perfectly. Edu seems to have found his own style that truly suits this type of music, and it's a quite a departure from his work on
Rebirth.
Angels and Demons is the next track, and is a showcase for the progressive influences that
Angra has incorporated into
Temple of Shadows. Beginning with some Prog-ish guitar-work that is reminiscent of Symphony X,
Angels and Demons shortly settles down into more of a standard Power Metal track. The best part of this one are the guitar bridge sections towards the end; this is some of the heaviest music
Angra has created yet it retains a melodic touch.
Temple of Hate, like
Spread Your Fire, is classic
Angra and contains the typical melodic riffs and chorus that everyone's used to. A welcome surprise was hearing Kai Hansen screaming away with Edu on this song. It's by far the most Helloween-ish track on this album, so it was very fitting that the band got Kai to sing on it. The chorus is extremely catchy and will never leave your head!
Apart from Kai, Hansi Kursch from
Blind Guardian and Sabine Edelsbacher from
Edenbridge also make guest appearances. They only appear briefly, but their performances add an extra bit of coolness to some already great songs.
Shadow Hunter was the first song on the album that totally blew me away with its eclectic structure and impressive experimental aspects. This song is all over the place; Power Metal sections, Prog influences - there's even a piece toward the end with some layered vocal harmonies that sounds as if it came directly off a
Chicago album. An absolutely brilliant track, and one of
Temple of Shadows' highlights.
My personal favorite from
Temple of Shadows is
Sprouts of Time. It begins with some mid-tempo Brazilian percussion and vocals that make it sound like smooth jazz,
Angra-style. I don't know what it is, but as much as I love this song, I really don't care for Edu's vocals at all in the beginning section. It could be his accent, or the vocal delivery that sounds like music from the Weather Channel, but when I first heard this song, I almost skipped it. Luckily, I decided to give it a chance, and once the chorus starts up it turns into one of the best tracks on this disc. I haven't heard a chorus as catchy as this one in a long while; I sing this chorus EVERYWHERE. Edu sings with a lot of passion here, and listening to this track always makes me happy (the chorus sort of reminds me of something from a ride at Epcot in Disney World from the 80s though). The solo section is brilliant as well; the guitars combine with some Brazilian rhythms and piano, and it gives this album an original touch that sets it apart from other Melodic Metal albums.
I've listened to this album from beginning to end at least 30 times since I've received it, and I don't plan on it leaving my player any time soon. From the fierce riffs on the faster songs to the beautiful, heart wrenching ballads,
Temple of Shadows is bound to please all fans of Metal, and really, all fans of music in general. I highly, highly recommend this album.
Written by
Matthew Wednesday, January 5, 2005
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