AGNUS GRAAL

A few weeks ago a Brazilian friend and co-collaborator in the Symphonic Team sent me a copy of the self titled debut of AGNUS GRAAL and of course placed it in my car's CD. If I have to be honest, wasn't impressed at all, yes, the band sounded pretty decent and after verifying they were obviously playing Symphonic Prog, voted for their inclusion, because despite I believed they were a less than average band, if we want to have the most complete database of Prog bands,they belong here.

Another thing that created some prejudice is that they were presented as a Catholic Prog Band, and despite I'm a faithful Catholic, I don't believe that music should be used as an instrument of evangelism, even if I agree with their theological position.

But a few days later (I have a 12 CD player in my car), the album played again, but this time something had changed, they sounded very good, as a fact the excellent blend of Symphonic and Hard Prog represents one of the latest tendencies in the first genre, but in this case it didn't sounded forced, the changes are radical but done with such skills that sound as a natural consequence, so they started to grow on me.

Even better, when I heard their lyrics (I speak a bit of Portuguese and understand it pretty well as any Spanish speaker) and found they were not preachy at all, and all the information I found showed that despite their believes, they are not using them as an instrument to evangelize, something I believe is very positive.

Now after a couple weeks of intensive listening, I believe that AGNUS GRAAL is a very powerful and skilled band with a fresh an innovative approach to Symphonic Prog.

Now lets talk about the tracks that impressed me more:

The opener Prelúdio starts with a fantastic organ introduction with a very Baroque atmosphere, reminding me a bit of Watcher of the Skies, but the similarities end there, first an almost Gregorian choir adds a strong dose of dramatics, but with great intelligence they soften this almost Canonic sound with a very nice harpsichord section that leads to a.....DEEP PURPLE inspired couple of chords that turn the track into an absolutely heavy song with excellent guitar work. Very good beginning for a good album.

Justiça Ilegal takes the opposite direction, begins with a very hard and well elaborate guitar intro that leads to the main body of the song in which all the band performs their instruments with great skills, sadly the vocals are not in the same level, too much oriented towards Rock & Roll of the 50's, but again when the instrumental breaks begin again, the real strength of the band can be perceived. Special mention to Antonio Sciamarelli who does an outstanding job with the keyboards.

Visagem begins with a violin solo that leads to the vocals by Sciamarelli, Eduardo Luz and Thiago Barroso, that this time sounds much better than in the previous song. Visagem is some kind of Power Ballad with an excellent guitar and keyboards work, until now not a single weak moment.

Canção do Tempo ao Vento starts a bit more experimental than other songs but suddenly the band takes the Symphonic path again with special mention to Thiago Barroso who does an outstanding bas job, the haunting vocals blend perfectly with a track that fuses also some sort of Floydian Space rock with strong guitar work again.

The album ends with Onde a Consciência Era a Lei that starts absolutely Medieval and the vocals in a troubadouresque style make the perfect match, sounding almost as a narration while an acoustic guitar, soft Moog and organ back the vocalist, but as usual there's a radical change and again we return to Heavy territory with an almost IRON MAIDEN oriented passage, reminds me a bit of Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Good closer.

The other songs are almost in the same vein except A Alma do Blues which is not in the same level of the rest of the album.

To summarize, AGNUS GRAAL is a surprising band that grows on the laudience more and more each time is listened, excellent addition for any Prog Collection if you don't mind the lyrics in Portuguese.

4 solid stars.