Andre Matos is, I am reliably informed, the Brazilian ex-lead singer of both progressive/power metal bands Angra and Shaman. No, not bands I know in depth and so I come to this very much as new ears seeking to be impressed. Not an impossible task either as I do occasionally lean this way… This is his third solo outing so you have to assume that with two other bands behind him as well that this it’s going to be sure-footed stuff.
Hmm. Well it starts very nicely actually. The first thing I discover is that Mr Matos has a fine voice very much in the mould of Geoff Tate and the opening song ‘Liberty’ is very much in the spritely, sharp Empire era Queensryche mode with deceptively complex arrangements pushing a nice, bright song. Nice start indeed. ‘Course Of Life’ is a bit more old Dragonforce except with lyrics that actually make sense; all very nice but a touch directionless perhaps compared to the opener but still very listenable. The title track kicks down a gear, finds (relatively speaking) a bit of grunt with all the band showing nicely nuanced touches rather than a by the numbers approach which helps no end to lift the song from power metal lite and into a rather good crowd rocker. Good stuff really.
‘Gaza’ on the other hand…. Ballad time with,one assumes, serious intent. But awash with keyboards and ’emotional’ guitar plucking for me it is a biscuit left in the teacup for too long; a bit too soggy and losing shape. ‘Stop!’ tries to give the album a little gentle kick up the bum and the curiously sugary chorus, rather at odds with some of the in-verse guitar riffing, is weirdly infectious in an 80s TV show/film soundtrack way. This, I am certain really has a market and is my second favourite song after the opener.
It’s kind if from here I begin to have issues. ‘On Your Own’ is to me shapeless and hookless, the kind of song you really do forget half of by the time you reach the middle of it and at nearly six minutes long I end up resenting it. ‘Unreplaceable’ threatens to make amends with a nice driving riff but somehow it gets pulled apart by a strangely ill-fitting time changes that make it sound like three different songs; kind of like Nevermore losing their place in the score. By the time ‘Oversoul’ turns up I want out; heavy sounding guitars actually devoid of power due to it being stripped away by the production every time the chorus comes in. In other words when the power should really be turned on, it has the rug pulled. And it also has more sudden changes in pace and style than any band can put in and hope to retain any power or impact.
I soldier on past ‘White Summit’ and ‘Light Years’, wade through ‘Sometimes’ with its keyboard/string drenched maudlin atmosphere where I think I should have felt heart wrenching emotion. And find the cover of Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ waiting to mug me. I think I may have head-butted it then.
The album started off really well, full of a fine bright promise and there are a couple of tracks I really like. But for me a combination of some unappealing songs and a production hell bent on pulling the kinetic energy from the moment any time Mr Matos approaches anything resembling a chorus ended this on a low. On the plus side, a good bunch off musicians who clearly have a well defined vision but I remain unconvinced by the proggy bits and underwhelmed by the power thanks to the production. If you really like prog/power then take look certainly, as I think you will find something to love here simply by the quality if the band, but I think anyone else might find this a bit mystifying and underwhelming. Probably just not for me and at over an hour, way too long.
But the Radiohead cover? No. Just no.
Sadly…
(4/10 Gizmo)
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