ANGRA
ANGRA – “Cycles of Pain”
By Colonel Angus
I have been following ANGRA on and off for quite a few years and while I enjoy most of their material, they are not one of those bands that I go back to a lot. I couldn’t tell you why as “Holy Land”, “Rebirth”, and “Temple of Shadows” are all great. When I look through my CD collection, I have many of their disks and aside from 2014’s “Secret Garden”, they are all very good yet I find myself looking elsewhere to scratch my musical itch.
If you have read my previous reviews, I’m not that big on the power metal genre but when it is done right, it clicks with me. ANGRA is one of those bands that pulls off the power metal elements very well and that is precisely why they are still in my record collection. When offered a chance to review this latest offering, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was disappointed with “Secret Garden” and I really didn’t revisit any post material so it was my expectations weren’t very high. Thankfully, any misgivings I may have had were soon washed away when I listened to “Cycles of Pain” all the way through.
The songs on “Secret Garden” are OK but I feel that they are not fully realized whereas the tracks on “Cycles of Pain” have been given the extra time and thought without sacrificing spontaneity and passion. The disks starts off with a little intro but “Ride into the Storm” quickly sheds any misgivings I had about getting “Secret Gardens Part Two”. When I mentioned earlier that power metal needs to be done right for me to get into it, this tune is a prime example of it being done right. It’s not just a bunch of instruments racing to get to the end, there is some groove that tempers the speed and gives the listener something to latch onto. “Dead Man on Display” and “Generation Warriors” also delve heavily into the power metal world and with the same results.
What I always liked about ANGRA is that they incorporate prog metal and bits of NWOBHM into their sound which makes their albums interesting. If all of “Cycles of Pain” were like the previously three mentioned tracks then I would be bored after about 20 minutes but thankfully this group of Brazilian musicians knows a thing or two about making records. The prog elements show up in quite a few songs with “Faithless Sanctuary” and “God of the World” being the best of the bunch. In fact, the latter will probably settle into your headspace for a while as I have been humming parts of it for a better part of a week. The other element of Angra that I think that the band does very well is their slower ballad-type material which they manage to stay far away from any power ballad trappings. The stars on Cycles of Pain in this respect are “Vida Seca” which starts off with a cool tropical sound but builds into a nice prog rocker and the title track which features some great guitar work. For my money, the only misstep is “Tears of Blood” which does contain a nice guitar solo but ultimately it falls short to my ears. Aside from that tune, I find myself listening this newest release a lot and it has even sparked my interest in their older album which I have spun pretty consistently since getting “Cycles of Pain”.
For those of you who are keeping score on who is in the band, the line-up is the same since their last record “Omni”. Fabio Lione is still on vocals along with main guitarist Rafael Bittencourt. Helping with guitar duties is Marcelo Barbosa who replaced Kiko Loureiro who went off to join MEGADETH after Secret garden. Felipe Andreoli and Bruno Valverde fill out the rest of the line-up on bass and drums respectively. Throughout the three decades ANGRA has been churning out records, the members may have changed but there has always been a level of quality with each release. Thank fully, “Cycles of Pain” has passed the high bar they’ve set and I’m sure any ANGRA fan will agree.