ANGRA – Temple Of Shadows

Brazilian quintet Angra is back with their second album after the band split with their drummer, bassist, and vocal god Andre Matos, and as expected this is a great effort indeed. The band has the ability to balance on the sharp edge between being grown up and experienced, on one hand, and fiery and spontaneous on the other, and does so very well. Guitarists Kiko Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt deliver a downright remarkable performance, so flashy and firey one could believe it was New Year’s Eve already. Even Edu Falaschi almost fills out Matos’ shoes, and the rhythm section of bassist Felipe Andreoli and drummer Aquiles Priester also impresses with their tightness, groove, and chops.

Song-wise, there are a number of highlights here, although there also are a few songs which unfortunately are not up to par. “Temple of Hate,” with Kai Hansen on guest vocals, is at best an average Power Metal tune, and neither “Sprouts of Time” (or rather “Trouts…”) nor “Waiting Silence” excel in any way. Most disappointingly, the closing track “Late Redemption” isn’t the highlight it could have been. The chorus, for example, shows it clearly has potential, but unfortunately it never really takes off.

Other than these negatives, there is a lot of awesome music here. The combination of the intro and the fast opener “Spread Your Fire” is nothing but phenomenal, and has to be among this year’s top tunes as it thrills and enchants at a breakneck speed, with riffing, vocal melodies, and solos to die for. The progressive “Angels and Demons,” the beautiful “Wishing Well,” the atmospheric “No Pain for the Dead,” and the crushing “Wings of Destination” (with Hansi Kürsch on guest vocals) are a quartet one should not miss, and tracks such as these show there’s hope for this genre too in the future.

The production is crisp and clear — the trademark Dennis Ward way, and with virtuosic performances all the way, and some quite great songs, this is an album you should definitely look into getting. It’s far from being the best Angra album of all time, but that is more because of the greatness of the band, not the sloppiness of this album…