After two years of some very annoying question marks stuck over the
Angra fans heads, Kiko Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt brought back to life the "Goddess of Fire", with a kick ass studio album named "
Rebirth", and a superb new line-up.
Recruiting very talented and experienced musicians was the only direction to be taken. They had to hire people with guts to endure a hell of a pressure, and in the same time to keep the high musical level of the departing former band members.
And that´s the reason why they brought Eduardo Falaschi, Felipe Andreoli and Aquiles Priester. All of them had a very respectful background. Actually, Edu was one of the four guys auditioned by
Iron Maiden when Bruce left. He was like 20 years old that time. After that, he formed a great band called Symbols that got well established in the brazilian underground scene during the 90´s. The same thing can be said about Aquiles and Felipe bands, Hangar and Karma. Both of them also played in the Paul Di´anno (ex-Maiden) band.
So they had the credentials and they made it!
Rebirth was a very successful album in Brazil and in good part of
Europe and Asia. But soon the question would arise.. What about live shows?!? Will Edu be able to sing Andre´s songs?!?! How would sound the rhythm section with Aquiles and Felipe???? I think this live album is the answer, although a bit earlier than I thought.
Live in Sao Paulo was recorded in one of the first appearances of the new line-up.
In a packed Via Funchal Hall, a week away from Christmas, the new band members had to pass through their test of fire.
I think was a great choice to record in Sao Paulo, their hometown, and at Via Funchal (where Bruce recorded Scream for me Brazil) which is an excellent place for metal concerts, with excellent acoustic and where you can see the show from a great view in any place you stand. But, wasn´t it too soon for a live register?!? The answer unfortunately is YES!
I had the chance to see the band during the tour, and their performance got a lot better as the tour went on. Their last concert of the tour was like 20 times better than what you are going to listen here. But, still a nice piece of music to have in your collection, what just proves how good this band is sounding live today!
The cd comes in a nice case, with pictures of the concert mixed with the original artwork of
Rebirth, and the booklet is full of pictures and all the information available, included the lyrics of all the songs. Lovely! But let´s get into the point, cause this talk is getting too long, let´s get into the music!
And the music is great!
Angra is the sort of the band lucky enough to have pills of classics to pick some and do a set list. Since
Angels Cry till
Rebirth they would have hard work making the set list. And they did a great job with this one in certain points, as performing live, most of the
Rebirth album, which I think is their strongest material since
Angels Cry. But in my opinion they did wrong, taking
Make Believe, Metal Icarus, and Number of the Beast, and leaving out gems like
Streets of Tomorrow,
Evil Warning, Never Understand, Carolina IV and Wings of Reality. And that drum solo. Ok, Aquiles is a great drummer, and that Priest´s Painkiller teaser is very cool, but hey ho.. Aside drummers, who else do not skip a drum solo, after a first listen?? Well,
Number of the Beast sounded great, especially because they played kinda different from the original version, with some cool double bass passages and mad guitar solos, but I still would prefer one of the songs I quoted.
Highlights go to all the songs from
Rebirth that worked great live. They were talking serious when where saying they had a strong material to put out.
Finally they gave the guitars all the space they deserved!!!! I love all things
Angra did since 94, but I always thought "Man, if the guitars were louder. Oh God..." It always annoyed me that Andre Matos voice and all his keyboard parts and orchestrations had to be over all the instruments, eclipsing one of the best guitar duos of all times!
Rebirth gave it to
Angra sound, and live, the songs sound even stronger, with Edu singing his ass off, with such enthusiasm and power, that Andre, with all his techniques and professionalism was never able to offer as a live performer.
I also loved Edu´s rendition to old songs like
Angels Cry, Time and Metal Icarus. He brought more anger, aggressiveness and spontaneity to them. His voice reminds me a lot of Ronnie James Dio, one of my favorite singers and possibly the reason why I like so much more the band with Edu than with Matos. But in other hand, honestly, I think he almost ruins songs like
Carry On, Make Believe, and Nothing to Say, when he tries to sing exactly like Matos the higher notes. These songs would sound so much better if he sings in the very Falaschi´s way. I really wanted to hear that!
Kiko and Rafael duels are a particular show. Listening them live, brings the emotion of seeing guitar fights of KK Downing and Glen Tipton , or Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. This is what metal is about! I´m not the kind of guy that thinks keyboards don´t fit in a heavy metal song, but I have a strong opinion that they have to be ALWAYS secondary in the music structure! Thank God, this is what happens now in
Angra´s music!
Aquiles and Felipe did a great job here. Although in my opinion Ricardo Confessori is the best drummer live in this country, I think Aquiles stands as one of the best ones here too, and brought new elements to the band´s music. And Felipe, which is a very young lad, has brought to the band more progressive elements and a virtuosi bass playing (in the good way).
So almost everything works fine in this live album, but some low points pushed my rank grade a little down. As I said previously, this is one of the first concerts of the new line-up, and I think that their performance was yet not in the standards they achieved during the tour, also, the audience was not aware of the lyrics and how this band would sound live compromising in a big way the live vibe and the interchange between band and crowd. Plus, the fact that the sound production is not great, sometimes sounding like a bootleg, with Edu´s voice very low, and the screams from the audience sounding as some whisperings from miles away of the mics. Kiko actually said they got very disappointed with the low sound captured by the mics directed to the fans, but they preferred not to overdub it, or paste something fake over it, cause (Kiko words) "these live albums out there, recorded in clubs with the sound of a Maracana stadium screaming, sound like a joke." Maybe he is right in some way, and what you listen here, is what we heard live that night, I can tell you. This is a live album literally live. And minimizing these few bad aspects,
Live in Sao Paulo is something that any
Angra fan should consider having in his collection, as an introduction of this
"Nova Era".
Angra, here is a band reborn from the ashes.
Written by
Rafael Sunday, September 28, 2003
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