ANGRA-Omni

EAR Music/Edel

The title of Angra’s 9^th studio CD means something like ‘everything’ and as they have done in the past the boys from Brazil (also the name of a great thriller with actors Gregory Peck as the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and Sir Laurence Olivier as the Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman) have made a concept album. Although boys from Brazil, since a few years the Italian Fabio Lione is the singer of the band and how great he fits in with this group becomes very obvious when you check out this record. The music of Angra always required a singer with a big reach and the two former vocalists Andre Matos and Eduardo Falaschi both had that. But Fabio Lione just outranks them with such ease! An album with as much variety as this one needs a singer like Fabio Lione. Part of the concept for this release is that band leader/guitarist Rafael Bittencourt has composed songs that could be seen as a sort of a look back to all the other Angra albums containing ‘everything’ the band in its current line-up has to offer in completely new songs. And believe me, that is quite a lot. Not even one song sounds the same, this is the most varied and versatile record in the now 27 year history of Angra. Big orchestral arrangements go hand in hand with Lione’s mighty voice (for me on this album he has the same impact as James LaBrie has with Dream Theater), the bombastic parts, the metal guitars and the undefined melody that several tracks have, it is all quite hard to grasp so investing time in ‘Omni’ is an absolute must as every time you hear this CD you hear stuff that you did not catch earlier on. ,,The Bottom Of My Soul’’, ,,Caveman’’ (with some weird Brazilian rhythms at the beginning), the ballad ,,Always More’’, the daring arrangements that define ,,Magic Mirror’’, ,,Black Widow’s Web’’ with its contrast between angelic and grunt type of vocals and the last two tracks (,,Silence Inside’’ and the completely orchestral piece ,,Infinite Nothing’’) are just a few highlights. ‘Omni’ has muscle and melody, imagination and also a powerful production by Jens Bogren, who has worked with Angra before. Excellent stuff and definitely recommended!