SCELERATA – Darkness And Light

Scelerata is a five-man Metal band from Brazil, and the 10-song Darkness And Light album is their debut disc. Scelerata’s line-up on this CD consists of Carl Casagrande, vocals; Magnus Wichmann and Bruno Sandri, guitars; Gustavo Strapazon, bass; and Francis Cassol, drums. Guest singers Eduardo Falaschi (ex-Angra), Thiago Bianchi (Shaman), and accordion hero Renato Borguetti cameo on some of the songs here, with the disc coming in at a little over 47 minutes of total playing time.

Scelerata plays a speedy, hard-hitting style of Heavy Metal, much like fellow countrymen Angra and European bands like Gamma Ray, so expect lots of soaring vocals, big riffs, finger-melting solos, and rapid-fire drum work that sounds like there’s an octopus sitting on the drum stool. Scelerata keeps the motor running pretty fast on Darkness And Light, only slowing down once in a while. You won’t find any power ballads on this album, although there are a couple of epic-style slower tracks.

And, just in case you were wondering, yes, there is an atmospheric intro tune: “Land Of The Sins” leads off the album. No Heavy Metal album is complete without one of these, after all …

With the filler out of the way, Scelerata gets down to business with the first actual song: “Holy Fire,” which blazes a trail for the rest of the album to follow. Big melodic vocals, loud guitars, furious drums, and a very fast pace; everything present and accounted. Toss in a catchy sing-a-long chorus and a shredding solo, and the album is off to a good start. Most of the songs on Darkness And Light hew to this pattern pretty closely, with some of them adding a bit of excess in the way of choral passages.

Scelerata might come across as a bit over-the-top with this release, but Heavy Metal is all about being excessive without being too cheesy (with the exception being Manowar), and the band certainly knows how to (head)bang out a quality Metal album, having written some good songs and then committing them to disc with a high degree of skill. These guys can certainly play; some of the solos -– like the one on “The Spell Of Time” — would tangle the fingers of even the very best Guitar Hero player.

Not content to let his bandmates have the spotlight all to themselves, Casagrande pulls his weight on vocals; he has a strong voice and good range. Casagrande has a fairly noticeable accent, but you get used to it quickly.

Overall, Darkness And Light is a strong Heavy Metal album and is a promising debut from Scelerata.