Angra – Cycles of Pain
Angra – Cycles of Pain
Atomic Fire Records
Release Date: 03/11/2023
Running Time: 58:35
Review by Victor Augusto
9.5/10
“If you’d go back in time for one single day. One tiny change in life and you wouldn’t be the same” (Tide of Changes – Part I). I dare you to say you have never wished to fix something in your life, but how could we grow up without learning from our mistakes and pain? Maybe this is what the legendary Brazilian band Angra brought to their fans with their new splendid album. They’ve followed them along the decades, know how famous they are andalso how many problems they’ve faced so far, but it seems like the band is living another good moment in their career, so let’s try to understand why.
From what I’ve seen of the band, the good energy around the members looked like it helped them to express all issues from the past and the album concept here is basically what we humans suffer in our lives and what we can learn from it. Angra had drastically changed their line-up throughout these 30 years and they are always reborn stronger than before, but the sad passing away of the first band’s singer Andre Matos made everyone feel like there was unfinished business among Angra’s history with him, and this is the beauty of this album.
It is clear that the stable line-up evolved them to this third record with this current formation and I believe it is a point to be highlighted here. Fabio Lione is very well known for his strong vocals. His versatility to explore different vocal areas have brought new possibilities for the band. Bruno Valverde is not anymore the young kid that is just a good drummer. He’s become very respected worldwide and his work here is amazing, from the brutal Speed Metal, as you hear in ‘Dead Man on Display’, to Brazilian rhythms and progressive elements.
Felipe Andreoli has been together with the founder member Rafael Bittencourt for decades and these two guys are examples of how to be complete musicians and composers. I can’t forget to mention how Marcelo Barbosa was the perfect choice to replace Kiko Loureiro, with his passion and dedication for his instrument. Maybe the difference between him and Kiko is how smooth he offers his technique. It is like creating very technical ideas but putting it in an easy way to digest. And why not mention the producer Dennis Ward, who was part of important albums of the band? For sure you will feel his touch on this album.
Musically, we can divide the album into dark parts, representing the pain, like the powerful ‘Ride Into the Storm’, that is one of the heaviest songs from all of the band’s career. One interesting detail was the addition of keyboards and a few symphonic elements that created a dense atmosphere and made the entire album very heavy. Things start to change on ‘Tides of Changes’, representing when you start to feel the desire of change that suffering moment to give a step ahead and the first sight of light or maybe it talks to your regret of something wrong you’ve done before and the first words of my review were lyrics from this song.
The first sign of hope comes on the beautiful and very Brazilian track ‘Vida Seca’ with lyrics in Portuguese sung by the famous Brazilian musician Lenine. After that, the band navigates different moments, and I need to highlight the title track ‘Cycles Of Pain’ where the suffering reached a level where it can’t get worse and all that’s left is to fight and survive. This song is like someone singing in a way to pull all anger out of the chest. The closing song ‘Tears of Blood’ shows a paradox mixing loveliness and darkness. The beauty comes from the duo of vocals with Fabio Lione showing his tenor vocal capability alongside Amanda Somerville and the darkness comes with all symphonic elements and the lyrics.
There are easter eggs around all previous band’s albums and the cover art makes it very clear. Still talking about the musical references to these old materials, I noticed the song ‘Faithless Sanctuary‘ could perfectly be part of “Holy Land” album (1996) by the percussive addition very well conducted by Felipe on bass and Bruno on Drums. Also the solo on ‘Gods of The World’ is very similar to the last part of ‘Nova Era’ solo from “Rebirth” (2001). Well, considering it is the third generation of the band, they could be honouring two important previous eras.
When the subject is about cycles of suffering and all process we go through to win these battles and then become a strong person, it’s not possible to not remember Dark Avenger’s last album ,“The Beloved Bones-Hell” (2017) when the vocalist (and my close friend) Mario Linhares (RIP) created something of a person who lives in a hell and all stages to get free of it, but at that time, it sounded like a farewell and Mario sadly left us few months after the album release.
Here, in “Cycles of Pain”, it sounds like the last chapter of their own biography of everything so far, but not the end. The difference is like it sounds as turning the last page of past events to fly high again, with all maturity to be the captain of this flight, despite knowing that turbulent winds will always appear in our lives.
What a beautiful and catching album!
ANGRA – Ride Into The Storm (Official Music Video)
TRACKLISTING:
01. Cyclus Doloris
02. Ride Into The Storm
03. Dead Man on Display
04. Tide of Changes – Part I
05. Tide of Changes – Part II
06. Vida Seca
07. Gods of The World
08. Cycles Of Pain
09. Faithless Sanctuary
10. Here in The Now
11. Generation Warriors
12. Tears of Blood
LINE-UP:
Fabio Lione – Vocals
Rafael Bittencourt – Guitars
Marcelo Barbosa Guitars
Felipe Andreoli – Bass
Bruno Valverde – Drums
LINKS
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