ANGELS CRY

My journey with SHAMAN music (see my review on "Ritual" and "RituAlive" at his site) has brought me back to ANGRA - the origin of Shaman before its formation. The reason is simple - at Shaman's live concert DVD there is "Carry On" taken from "Angels Cry" album. So I grabbed the CD of this album which I have at double CD version altogether with "Holy Land" (I already reviewed long time ago at this site). Well, I do love the opening track of this album "Unfinished Allegro" which also appears at "Rebirth World Tour" CD and DVD version. This short introduction serves well to set the tone of the overall album. When "Carry On" enters the scene I can see the beauty and the energy of this song especially through its strong melody, powerful voice of lead vocal (Andre Matos), stunning guitar solo and dynamic bass guitar and inventive keyboard sounds. It's truly an excellent track in power metal vein.

"Time" is my favorite track. It starts mellow with nice acoustic guitar fills. The music flows nicely in slow tempo and finally moves into fast tempo with high register notes voice line, augmented with guitar riffs and keyboard punches. Again, I love the melody of this song as well as the high energy it delivers. The simple music interlude using keyboard followed with guitar is an excellent attraction of this track. "Angels Cry" is an excellent power metal song with great guitar work. The interlude part is really melodic and memorable - with the music tempo slowing down and using keyboard to fill the music, giving a symphonic nuance of the song.

"Stand Away" is a nice song that starts like a ballad. The overall melody and structure of this song have in a way inspired "Fairy Tale" of Shaman. Oh yes, they don't seem the same but the style is similar. I really like both songs. "Never Understand" brings the music to another style even though it still maintain the power metal vein at the middle of the track onwards. This album also features a song that was popular under Kate Bush, i.e. "Wuthering Heights".

Overall, this is an excellent addition to your power metal collection with some prog elements, of course. Recommended. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW [Review no. 800]