Angra: Aqua

Brazilian power metal group Angra has been releasing consistently high-quality albums for over 15 years now, and that doesn’t change on Aqua. This album sees vocalist Eduardo Falaschi sounding more similar to Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden than ever before in his high register. When Falaschi sings in the lower range, as on lead single “Lease of Life”, he sounds remarkably clear and immediately draws the listener’s attention to the lyrics. Meanwhile, the album’s multi-faceted compositions add numerous symphonic elements to the mix, but at the same time retain the core power metal sound of past albums. In many ways, Angra is following the same path as Kamelot, evolving their sound slowly and becoming a more complete band with time. Judging by how successful Kamelot has become with that formula, one can expect that Angra will soon get the big break they’ve been waiting for.