The Playlist of Life --- Trollheart's resurrected Journal

Trollheart · 10-05-2014, 12:29 PM

As we all know, Metal is so diverse and has splintered into so many subgenres that many of them are strikingly different. Progressive Metal, for instance, bears no relationship to Doom Metal, while Nu-Metal is generally shunned by people and Grindcore ... well, let's just say over the past few days I've discovered that Grindcore is not for me. But there are some subgenres of Metal I have little or no experience with, and others I know quite well. Over the course of the next few Metal Months, this section will address those subgenres, looking into the ethos behind each, asking why it's so different from the “regular” metal that it deserves its own category, and of course taking a look at some of the major --- and perhaps minor --- players in that subgenre.

If I said the first one I want to look at had connections to burly men in ships sailing from colder countries to plunder the rich fertile lands of the west, would you know what I was talking about? Of course you would.

Viking Metal seems to be a relatively recent subdivision of the genre, but its roots go back thousands of years, to before the birth of Christianity. Of course, they surely didn't sing Heavy Metal as they rode into battle, but song was always a large part of the Viking way of life. They would sing of their battles, their victories, comrades lost, their women and of course their gods. This sort of mythological and historical bent surely lends itself well to Heavy Metal, and the fact that Vikings were, we are told, pretty much to a man, rough, tough men who fought by a code of honour and hoped to die gloriously in battle, seals the deal.

Like the Norsemen of antiquity, Viking Metal is characterised by a rough, hard edge with often gutteral vocals --- though not always --- pounding guitars and hammering drums. The lyric usually --- though again not always --- focus on the exploits of the Vikings, their battles and histories, and the legends they believed in. Because of its origins, much of the music of Viking Metal is sung in the native language of the band who perform it --- Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish, as well as German --- making it hard for non-native speakers to experience the true depth of some of the lyrics, but there's always passion and power in their songs. Some bands augment the guitar/bass/drums/vocals format by mixing it up with piano, violin, flutes, sometimes even a full orchestra, for what is more stirring than an orchestra in full flow? But the core of the music remains, hard and uncompromising.

Sometimes elements of Viking Metal --- like many of the other subgenres --- spills across the borders and into other forms of metal, such as Power Metal and sometimes Progressive Metal. Manowar are a good example of a band who have combined Viking Metal influences into their basically Power Metal sound, and Blind Guardian could be said to be almost a Viking Progressive Metal band. But to hear the real Viking Metal you really have to let go of your preconceptions and accept that a good percentage of what you're going to hear is likely to be in a tongue you don't speak. In other words, to quote from Star Trek: to really appreciate Shakespeare you have to hear it in the original Klingon. There's something primordial about the lyrics in Viking Metal, and even if you don't understand them you can get a good sense of the grandeur, sweep and majesty of them, the idea of honour and courage burning through brightly, and behind all stands the stern figures of the Norse gods, beckoning the bravest to sit at their table in Valhalla, the Hall of Heroes.

With the proliferation of Black Metal in the 1980s, many bands were drawn to the harsh, abrasive, who-gives-a-fuck style of playing but were uneasy with the often inextricable links with Satan and the Occult. But they didn't believe --- or professed not to believe, or at least in their music --- in the Christian God, and so they fell sort of between two stools. They did not worship Satan, and they did not believe in God. So they turned to an earlier form of worship, one which stood in direct opposition to God but was not linked to his Eternal Adversary, Odin and the gods of Asgard. Known for their frequent raids across the sea in which primarily they would target monasteries and churches, and slay priests and monks without a second thought, Vikings became the visual embodiment of what these other bands wanted, and they embraced the culture and the music. There was a problem though.

Vikings are not known in history for having any musical heritage. Although their stories have been celebrated in opera and classical music down the centuries --- with Wagner's “Ring Cycle” being the obvious example here --- the Norsemen had little time for singing, or composing music. They were too busy putting to sea, raiding foreign lands and carrying back their treasure. When they weren't raiding, they were planning for a raid, or fighting among each other or making love to their wives, or hunting, or any number of other manly occupations. But they did not compose symphonies, they did not write poetry and they did not read books. Some few did write --- Icelandic scribe Snorri Sturluson's epic sagas have gone down in history --- but much of their mythology was related by mouth, from generation to generation, so that little of it was committed to paper.

So without a musical heritage for these new bands to draw on, they had to create their own, and so Viking Metal envisages how the mighty warriors might have sung as they charged into battle or after battle marching home victorious, or celebrating in the mighty mead halls. Their legends, exploits and history are set to the kind of music that evokes their memory --- hard, crushing, slow, grinding, powerful. The vocals are often grunted or roared, and folk instruments endemic to the Vikings are sometimes introduced into the music mix.

The image of Viking Metal bands, too, mimicks their heroes and many of them dress in animal furs, leather armour, with horned helmets and weapons at their sides. Fitting the image of the Norsemen, most members of Viking bands are burly and strong. They usually advocate the consumption of massive amounts of alcohol, and practice what they preach.

So, who are the main proponents of this subgenre? Who are the players? Many cite Swedish Black Metal band Bathory as the first real Viking Metal Band, while there is also a case for the crowning of Enslaved as the firstborn. There's Motriis, the ever-jolly Burzum, Thyrfing, Moonsroow, Amon Amarth and many more. And they're just the ones from Scandinavia. Spread your net a little further and you'll catch iron fish from Germany, Holland, The Czech Republic, USA, Canada, even the Faroe Islands. Almost all of these bands claim some sort of Viking blood in their history. Whether there's any truth to that probably varies widely from band to band.

In the next part of this article I'll be looking into some of the major and minor bands of this subgenre, and sampling some of their music.

**Janszoon** · 10-05-2014, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

First of all, sorry I took so long to get back to you, but even with a lot of this stuff pre-written it's hard to get the time as I'm still in the process of writing a lot of the rest of it.

As for the above, no. No I can't. If you want to hear "tightly written and precisely played compositions" listen to "Big Generator" by Yes. Now there's a band at the top of their game, operating almost as one mind, tight as the proverbial duck's and with not a note dropped nor missed. Almost telepathic.

I fully understand that you rate and love this music, but I can't make it be anything to me other than noise, and loud, discordant, disorganised noise at that. Sorry. You'll never win me over to grindcore.

I'm not trying to win you over, just asking you to recognize that it has structure and is being played by people who know their way around their instruments. I don't like Yes at all but I can at least acknowledge those things about them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

I don't think missing out on a 27-minute grindcore composition constitutes only half listening to it, but I just could not face any more.

I thought we already talked about this: Ufomammut aren't grindcore, they're space rock/prog influenced doom. And, yeah, skipping 27 minutes of a 67 minute album is essentially half listening to it.

It's ok though, I still love you.

Trollheart · 10-05-2014, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

I'm not trying to win you over, just asking you to recognize that it has structure and is being played by people who know their way around their instruments. I don't like Yes at all but I can at least acknowledge those things about them.

Yes (!) but whether or not you like Yes you can hear and understand what they're playing, to the extent you can slag it off quite knowledgeably if you want. I honestly could not do that with grindcore: it truly is just noise to me. The guys could be banging bin lids or hammering railings for all the tuneage I can see in it. I'm just never going to be able to recognise that as music, sorry.

Quote:

I thought we already talked about this: Ufomammut aren't grindcore, they're space rock/prog influenced doom. And, yeah, skipping 27 minutes of a 67 minute album is essentially half listening to it.

Yeah, dammit I keep making that mistake, sorry!

Quote:

It's ok though, I still love you.

**Janszoon** · 10-05-2014, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Yes (!) but whether or not you like Yes you can hear and understand what they're playing, to the extent you can slag it off quite knowledgeably if you want. I honestly could not do that with grindcore: it truly is just noise to me. The guys could be banging bin lids or hammering railings for all the tuneage I can see in it. I'm just never going to be able to recognise that as music, sorry.

So when you listened to that Gridlink album, you couldn't hear that a guitar, bass and drums were being played together? You couldn't hear that there were moments in a given song where they turned on a dime in unison? This is hard to for me to wrap my mind around. I can't imagine listening to someone playing an instrument and not being able to hear that they are playing an instrument.

Trollheart · 10-05-2014, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

So when you listened to that Gridlink album, you couldn't hear that a guitar, bass and drums were being played together? You couldn't hear that there were moments in a given song where they turned on a dime in unison? This is hard to for me to wrap my mind around. I can't imagine listening to someone playing an instrument and not being able to hear that they are playing an instrument.

Sorry, no. I could hear it was a guitar or drums, sure, but it might as well have been a monkey playing it for all the precision and melody I got from it. There's just no point really in discussing this further, cos I'm only going to start angering or upsetting you, but the only thing I get out of grindcore --- or have got --- is noise, noise and more noise. Someone screaming like they're having a fit or being murdered is not singing in my book, and someone bashing on a guitar is not playing it.

But these things are all subjective, as I've already said. I can't see the beauty in it, you do. That's fine. I wouldn't try to tell you that you must be mad, hearing music in that cacophony, so in fairness I think you need to just accept that I don't hear what you do, and leave it at that. I know it rankles with you but that's just how I feel. Though I may sound like an old grandfather saying it, to me grindcore is not music, it's just noise. But I understand that is only my perception of it, and that others enjoy it. Fair play to yiz. I never will.

We should just draw a line under this now, and agree to disagree.

Trollheart · 10-05-2014, 02:58 PM

Well so far we've looked at two of the bands at the heavier end of the scale, but today I want to focus perhaps more on the technical ability and songwriting that often gets overlooked. That's right: progressive metal. And if there's one band that sits at the top of the heap in Brazilian Progressive Metal it's these guys.

Rebirth --- Angra --- 2001 (Steamhammer)

By the time this, their fourth album was released Angra had not only been together ten years already, but had changed their lineup so dramatically that many expected that the band had split up. Retaining only original founder member Raphael Bittencourt and guitarist Kiko Loureiro, the band was completely revamped in 2001 and this was the first release from the “new” Angra. It proved a commercial success, and the lineup remained pretty stable for the next six or so years.

A typical prog/symphonic metal instrumental opens the album, heavy synth, choral vocals, slow booming drums and sound effects as “In excelsis” pulls us directly into “Nova era” with a big galloping drumbeat and those fast, leaping guitars so beloved of power metal. Edu Falaschi has a great voice perfectly suited to this sort of music, and there's very little if any trace of his native accent. Some fine keyboard work by Gunter Werno, guesting on this album and it really shows in the piano intro to “Millennium sun”, which appears to be --- rather early in the album I would have thought --- a sumptuous ballad. Really nice cello touches too from Roman Mekinulov before, yeah, I thought it was too soon, the song kicks up in tempo and takes off on wings of fire.

A big choral intro then to “Acid rain” which then rides along the guitar riffs of Kiko and Rafael, but the song seems a little overlong for what's in it. Powerful and effective though, plenty of passion and raw energy combined with a hell of a lot of musical talent. Can't fault that. “Heroes of sand” has a nice acoustic vibe and a waltzy feel to it, great vocal harmonies, then it breaks into a real power anthem with hard guitar and rumbling percussion. Great hook in the chorus, and I do love songs with hooks. Odd start to “Unholy war”, something of a tribal chant, then it's a kind of cross between Peter Gabriel and Orphaned Land until it breaks into a run with a fast guitar being backed up by Werno's jumping keyboards. Very power metal this. Really cool bass solo from Felipe Andreoli before the song slows down for a time, then the guitarists take it again and it races off once more.

The title track opens on soft acoustic guitar and synthesised flute with a really nice gentle vocal from Edu, Gunter Werno painting a lush backdrop with his keyboards, then, like it seems most Angra tracks, it gets harder and heavier, the drums punching through, the guitars winding up and the vocal increasing in passion and intensity. There's a really scorching solo then later on in the song before it slows down again as it moves towards its conclusion, ending on the acoustic guitar on which it began. “Judgement Day” just kicks out the stays, rocking all the way with some fine uptempo piano from Werno and wild guitar from Raphael and Kiko. Reminds me of Yes with elements of Asia, definite overtones of AOR creeping in. Then it slows down on the back of Werno's thick synth line, a graceful, majestic tone taking it before another fine bass solo leads us into the fourth minute, where Kiko racks off a solo of his own, pretty breathtaking. Sounding even more like Yes now as the song approaches its end, and we head into “Running alone”, another fast-paced, power metalesque track that runs for just over seven minutes. Superb neoclassical passage on the piano from Werno about halfway through. Powerful choral ending and then there's a chance to catch our breath as the album closes.

“Visions prelude” is based on Chopin's Op 28 No. 2 in C Minor, and will be familiar to anyone who's heard the full version of Barry Manilow's “Could it be magic?” A great piano piece that gives a showcase moment both to Gunter Werno and Edu Falaschi, the latter of whom sings his heart out and really transforms the piece. Clever, innovative, unexpected and paying their dues to the classical masters: I guess that's Angra for you!

TRACKLISTING

In excelsis
Nova era
Millennium sun
Acid rain
Heroes of sand
Unholy wars
Rebirth
Judgement Day
Running alone
Visions prelude

I love to see a band stretch themselves doing something ambitious like the closer here. It's similar to Dark Moor's treatment of Beethoven's “Moonlight sonata” on the “Tarot” album. Not only does it show they have an appreciation for classical music, it potentially opens the genre up to a younger generation who otherwise may not have known of it. The other thing I note about Angra is that at times I had to remind myself they were from Brazil, as they sound like an American prog metal band (and that's not a criticism, at least it's not meant as one).

If this is or was the rebirth of Angra, it seems to have been a very successful one, and would carry them on through another four albums, and probably more. The future of prog metal in Brazil would appear to be in very safe hands indeed.

Isbjørn · 10-05-2014, 03:11 PM

Looking forward to the Viking metal section! Aptly, my Metal Month review is of Blood Fire Death..!

Anyway, I hate to be that guy, but I have some.... constructive criticism: Viking metal's roots don't go back thousands of years, as the Viking Age only ended about 700 years ago, and started about 1300 years ago. Also, neither Amon Amarth nor Burzum are Viking metal. Amon Amarth is Viking-themed melodeath, and Burzum is black metal. He did start writing some Norse-themed lyrics when he started making ambient stuff (at least I think so, they're in Icelandic, which is basically Old Norse), but his early albums are mainly about darkness, nature, darkness, Lord of the Rings and darkness.

But hey, you know a post is good when one has to nitpick like this in order to criticize it!

**Janszoon** · 10-05-2014, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Sorry, no. I could hear it was a guitar or drums, sure, but it might as well have been a monkey playing it for all the precision and melody I got from it. There's just no point really in discussing this further, cos I'm only going to start angering or upsetting you, but the only thing I get out of grindcore --- or have got --- is noise, noise and more noise. Someone screaming like they're having a fit or being murdered is not singing in my book, and someone bashing on a guitar is not playing it.

But these things are all subjective, as I've already said. I can't see the beauty in it, you do. That's fine. I wouldn't try to tell you that you must be mad, hearing music in that cacophony, so in fairness I think you need to just accept that I don't hear what you do, and leave it at that. I know it rankles with you but that's just how I feel. Though I may sound like an old grandfather saying it, to me grindcore is not music, it's just noise. But I understand that is only my perception of it, and that others enjoy it. Fair play to yiz. I never will.

We should just draw a line under this now, and agree to disagree.

It doesn't rankle me, I just find it kind fascinating. I can't personally think of any time I've heard music and not been able to recognize it as such so it's just a difficult experience to imagine. Oh well.

Trollheart · 10-05-2014, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briks

Looking forward to the Viking metal section! Aptly, my Metal Month review is of Blood Fire Death..!

Yes, I'll be using that, though I also intend to review "Hammerheart", of course.

Quote:

Anyway, I hate to be that guy, but I have some.... constructive criticism: Viking metal's roots don't go back thousands of years, as the Viking Age only ended about 700 years ago, and started about 1300 years ago.

Yeah, you're right. Boy is my face red!

Quote:

Also, neither Amon Amarth nor Burzum are Viking metal. Amon Amarth is Viking-themed melodeath, and Burzum is black metal. He did start writing some Norse-themed lyrics when he started making ambient stuff (at least I think so, they're in Icelandic, which is basically Old Norse), but his early albums are mainly about darkness, nature, darkness, Lord of the Rings and darkness.

But .. but ... Wiki says they are! Are you saying Wiki is wrong? ARE YOU? I know you're not saying that....

Quote:

But hey, you know a post is good when one has to nitpick like this in order to criticize it!

Thanks!

One day in every three hundred and sixty five a year I suffer from the terrible affliction of not being perfect.

It's a burden but I've learned to live with it.

Mondo Bungle · 10-05-2014, 04:16 PM

Gridlink is one of the most technical groups I've ever heard. I guess when you jam pack 700 different ultra progressive melodies into one song, it gets hard to make out a single one.

This is basically a power metal song

10-05-2014, 12:29 PM	#2281 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	As we all know, Metal is so diverse and has splintered into so many subgenres that many of them are strikingly different. Progressive Metal, for instance, bears no relationship to Doom Metal, while Nu-Metal is generally shunned by people and Grindcore ... well, let's just say over the past few days I've discovered that Grindcore is not for me. But there are some subgenres of Metal I have little or no experience with, and others I know quite well. Over the course of the next few Metal Months, this section will address those subgenres, looking into the ethos behind each, asking why it's so different from the “regular” metal that it deserves its own category, and of course taking a look at some of the major --- and perhaps minor --- players in that subgenre. If I said the first one I want to look at had connections to burly men in ships sailing from colder countries to plunder the rich fertile lands of the west, would you know what I was talking about? Of course you would. Viking Metal seems to be a relatively recent subdivision of the genre, but its roots go back thousands of years, to before the birth of Christianity. Of course, they surely didn't sing Heavy Metal as they rode into battle, but song was always a large part of the Viking way of life. They would sing of their battles, their victories, comrades lost, their women and of course their gods. This sort of mythological and historical bent surely lends itself well to Heavy Metal, and the fact that Vikings were, we are told, pretty much to a man, rough, tough men who fought by a code of honour and hoped to die gloriously in battle, seals the deal. Like the Norsemen of antiquity, Viking Metal is characterised by a rough, hard edge with often gutteral vocals --- though not always --- pounding guitars and hammering drums. The lyric usually --- though again not always --- focus on the exploits of the Vikings, their battles and histories, and the legends they believed in. Because of its origins, much of the music of Viking Metal is sung in the native language of the band who perform it --- Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish, as well as German --- making it hard for non-native speakers to experience the true depth of some of the lyrics, but there's always passion and power in their songs. Some bands augment the guitar/bass/drums/vocals format by mixing it up with piano, violin, flutes, sometimes even a full orchestra, for what is more stirring than an orchestra in full flow? But the core of the music remains, hard and uncompromising. Sometimes elements of Viking Metal --- like many of the other subgenres --- spills across the borders and into other forms of metal, such as Power Metal and sometimes Progressive Metal. Manowar are a good example of a band who have combined Viking Metal influences into their basically Power Metal sound, and Blind Guardian could be said to be almost a Viking Progressive Metal band. But to hear the real Viking Metal you really have to let go of your preconceptions and accept that a good percentage of what you're going to hear is likely to be in a tongue you don't speak. In other words, to quote from Star Trek: to really appreciate Shakespeare you have to hear it in the original Klingon. There's something primordial about the lyrics in Viking Metal, and even if you don't understand them you can get a good sense of the grandeur, sweep and majesty of them, the idea of honour and courage burning through brightly, and behind all stands the stern figures of the Norse gods, beckoning the bravest to sit at their table in Valhalla, the Hall of Heroes. With the proliferation of Black Metal in the 1980s, many bands were drawn to the harsh, abrasive, who-gives-a-fuck style of playing but were uneasy with the often inextricable links with Satan and the Occult. But they didn't believe --- or professed not to believe, or at least in their music --- in the Christian God, and so they fell sort of between two stools. They did not worship Satan, and they did not believe in God. So they turned to an earlier form of worship, one which stood in direct opposition to God but was not linked to his Eternal Adversary, Odin and the gods of Asgard. Known for their frequent raids across the sea in which primarily they would target monasteries and churches, and slay priests and monks without a second thought, Vikings became the visual embodiment of what these other bands wanted, and they embraced the culture and the music. There was a problem though. Vikings are not known in history for having any musical heritage. Although their stories have been celebrated in opera and classical music down the centuries --- with Wagner's “Ring Cycle” being the obvious example here --- the Norsemen had little time for singing, or composing music. They were too busy putting to sea, raiding foreign lands and carrying back their treasure. When they weren't raiding, they were planning for a raid, or fighting among each other or making love to their wives, or hunting, or any number of other manly occupations. But they did not compose symphonies, they did not write poetry and they did not read books. Some few did write --- Icelandic scribe Snorri Sturluson's epic sagas have gone down in history --- but much of their mythology was related by mouth, from generation to generation, so that little of it was committed to paper. So without a musical heritage for these new bands to draw on, they had to create their own, and so Viking Metal envisages how the mighty warriors might have sung as they charged into battle or after battle marching home victorious, or celebrating in the mighty mead halls. Their legends, exploits and history are set to the kind of music that evokes their memory --- hard, crushing, slow, grinding, powerful. The vocals are often grunted or roared, and folk instruments endemic to the Vikings are sometimes introduced into the music mix. The image of Viking Metal bands, too, mimicks their heroes and many of them dress in animal furs, leather armour, with horned helmets and weapons at their sides. Fitting the image of the Norsemen, most members of Viking bands are burly and strong. They usually advocate the consumption of massive amounts of alcohol, and practice what they preach. So, who are the main proponents of this subgenre? Who are the players? Many cite Swedish Black Metal band Bathory as the first real Viking Metal Band, while there is also a case for the crowning of Enslaved as the firstborn. There's Motriis, the ever-jolly Burzum, Thyrfing, Moonsroow, Amon Amarth and many more. And they're just the ones from Scandinavia. Spread your net a little further and you'll catch iron fish from Germany, Holland, The Czech Republic, USA, Canada, even the Faroe Islands. Almost all of these bands claim some sort of Viking blood in their history. Whether there's any truth to that probably varies widely from band to band. In the next part of this article I'll be looking into some of the major and minor bands of this subgenre, and sampling some of their music. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-05-2014, 02:58 PM	#2286 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,992	Well so far we've looked at two of the bands at the heavier end of the scale, but today I want to focus perhaps more on the technical ability and songwriting that often gets overlooked. That's right: progressive metal. And if there's one band that sits at the top of the heap in Brazilian Progressive Metal it's these guys. Rebirth --- Angra --- 2001 (Steamhammer) By the time this, their fourth album was released Angra had not only been together ten years already, but had changed their lineup so dramatically that many expected that the band had split up. Retaining only original founder member Raphael Bittencourt and guitarist Kiko Loureiro, the band was completely revamped in 2001 and this was the first release from the “new” Angra. It proved a commercial success, and the lineup remained pretty stable for the next six or so years. A typical prog/symphonic metal instrumental opens the album, heavy synth, choral vocals, slow booming drums and sound effects as “In excelsis” pulls us directly into “Nova era” with a big galloping drumbeat and those fast, leaping guitars so beloved of power metal. Edu Falaschi has a great voice perfectly suited to this sort of music, and there's very little if any trace of his native accent. Some fine keyboard work by Gunter Werno, guesting on this album and it really shows in the piano intro to “Millennium sun”, which appears to be --- rather early in the album I would have thought --- a sumptuous ballad. Really nice cello touches too from Roman Mekinulov before, yeah, I thought it was too soon, the song kicks up in tempo and takes off on wings of fire. A big choral intro then to “Acid rain” which then rides along the guitar riffs of Kiko and Rafael, but the song seems a little overlong for what's in it. Powerful and effective though, plenty of passion and raw energy combined with a hell of a lot of musical talent. Can't fault that. “Heroes of sand” has a nice acoustic vibe and a waltzy feel to it, great vocal harmonies, then it breaks into a real power anthem with hard guitar and rumbling percussion. Great hook in the chorus, and I do love songs with hooks. Odd start to “Unholy war”, something of a tribal chant, then it's a kind of cross between Peter Gabriel and Orphaned Land until it breaks into a run with a fast guitar being backed up by Werno's jumping keyboards. Very power metal this. Really cool bass solo from Felipe Andreoli before the song slows down for a time, then the guitarists take it again and it races off once more. The title track opens on soft acoustic guitar and synthesised flute with a really nice gentle vocal from Edu, Gunter Werno painting a lush backdrop with his keyboards, then, like it seems most Angra tracks, it gets harder and heavier, the drums punching through, the guitars winding up and the vocal increasing in passion and intensity. There's a really scorching solo then later on in the song before it slows down again as it moves towards its conclusion, ending on the acoustic guitar on which it began. “Judgement Day” just kicks out the stays, rocking all the way with some fine uptempo piano from Werno and wild guitar from Raphael and Kiko. Reminds me of Yes with elements of Asia, definite overtones of AOR creeping in. Then it slows down on the back of Werno's thick synth line, a graceful, majestic tone taking it before another fine bass solo leads us into the fourth minute, where Kiko racks off a solo of his own, pretty breathtaking. Sounding even more like Yes now as the song approaches its end, and we head into “Running alone”, another fast-paced, power metalesque track that runs for just over seven minutes. Superb neoclassical passage on the piano from Werno about halfway through. Powerful choral ending and then there's a chance to catch our breath as the album closes. “Visions prelude” is based on Chopin's Op 28 No. 2 in C Minor, and will be familiar to anyone who's heard the full version of Barry Manilow's “Could it be magic?” A great piano piece that gives a showcase moment both to Gunter Werno and Edu Falaschi, the latter of whom sings his heart out and really transforms the piece. Clever, innovative, unexpected and paying their dues to the classical masters: I guess that's Angra for you! TRACKLISTING In excelsis Nova era Millennium sun Acid rain Heroes of sand Unholy wars Rebirth Judgement Day Running alone Visions prelude I love to see a band stretch themselves doing something ambitious like the closer here. It's similar to Dark Moor's treatment of Beethoven's “Moonlight sonata” on the “Tarot” album. Not only does it show they have an appreciation for classical music, it potentially opens the genre up to a younger generation who otherwise may not have known of it. The other thing I note about Angra is that at times I had to remind myself they were from Brazil, as they sound like an American prog metal band (and that's not a criticism, at least it's not meant as one). If this is or was the rebirth of Angra, it seems to have been a very successful one, and would carry them on through another four albums, and probably more. The future of prog metal in Brazil would appear to be in very safe hands indeed. __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

10-05-2014, 03:11 PM	#2287 (permalink)
Isbjørn cooler commie than elph Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: In a hole, help Posts: 2,811	Looking forward to the Viking metal section! Aptly, my Metal Month review is of Blood Fire Death..! Anyway, I hate to be that guy, but I have some.... constructive criticism: Viking metal's roots don't go back thousands of years, as the Viking Age only ended about 700 years ago, and started about 1300 years ago. Also, neither Amon Amarth nor Burzum are Viking metal. Amon Amarth is Viking-themed melodeath, and Burzum is black metal. He did start writing some Norse-themed lyrics when he started making ambient stuff (at least I think so, they're in Icelandic, which is basically Old Norse), but his early albums are mainly about darkness, nature, darkness, Lord of the Rings and darkness. But hey, you know a post is good when one has to nitpick like this in order to criticize it! __________________ fast(ml) Hear me play the guitar Look, mom! I got a journal Last edited by Isbjørn; 10-05-2014 at 03:42 PM.