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Artist: Andre matos |
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The name of Andre
Matos is well known as the former Angra singer and after his departure
from the band in 2001, he then went on to form Shamen, but in 2006 he
disbanded the band to pursue a solo career. Now, anyone who caught his
debut solo release ‘Time To Be Free’ will know what a great move this was, as
it resulted in one of the best metal albums of decade. And now Matos has
returned with an album that will top even those dizzying heights that the debut
reached. I feel this album
will rank as Matos’s finest release to date. This is at times a
rampaging metal assault and at others a great melodic metal opus. The album gets underway
in emphatic style with ‘Leading On’, a real touch of class to open
the album up with. The streaming guitars, power driven keyboards and
thunderous rhythm section are only shadowed by the tremendous vocals of
the man himself. If you love great melodic metal and haven’t heard of
Andre Matos then this one will set you on the right path to pure metal
heaven. This superb album
continues it metal path with the riff spewn delights of ‘I Will
Return’, where the six string maestros Andre
Hernandez and Hugo Mariutti pull
no punches on this song, although it’s the Matos vocals that are the
real icing on the cake of this one. There is more than
a hint of the traditional Brazilian drum sound on the excellent
‘Someone Else’, a real barnstormer of a track that is as dark as it
is strong. A track that ignites into a black flame of pure unadulterated
riff laden metal and is one of the many tracks of the album for me. ‘Shift The Night
Away’ is up next, again pure genius by Matos on the lyrical front and
musically one of the best on the album. A real powerhouse song from
beginning to end. That blend of rampaging guitars and keyboards is just a
power metalheads dream. After the
bombardment of the first four tracks the album takes a slower and
mellower turn with the excellent ballad ‘Back To You’ and shows that
Matos is the full package, as regards to vocals he can not only push out the metal,
but can also bring it down when it matters. The album returns
to the Metal vibe with another of my favourite tracks off the
album, the full on melodic metal of the title track ‘Mentalize’.
This
one is the unholy twin guitar metal of Priest mixed with the epic metal
of Maiden a future classic for sure. The power metal
just keeps on coming with my all out favourite track of the album ‘The Myriad’.
A track
where Matos shows his full range, from the gentle side to the all out
powerful metal vocal, with once again top rank musicianship to back these
superb vocals. The angelic choral
beginnings of ‘When The Sun Cried’ sets the mood for the epic metal
of track. It's clear why Matos toured with Avantasia’s 'Scarecrow', this
one has that same feel about it. 'Mirror Of Me' brings in a thunderous rhythm section and the best guitar work of the
album. Again melodic power metal wrapped around those fantastic pipes of
Matos and then there's the intriguing mix of guitar and orchestration on
the massive ‘Violence’. It's time to bring
it down a touch again with another great metal ballad this one is
entitled ‘A Lapse Of Time’, before the album closes with the well
titled ‘Powerstream’. As the title suggests, this is all out metal from
beginning to end and wraps up an album that will not only cements Matos as one of the finest
metal voices around, but also ranks of one
of the finest metal albums I’ve ever heard. This release will
most definietly be one of my albums of
the year for sure, because you’ll have to go a long way to beat this
one, mark my words. |
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Tracklisting: 1.
Leading On |
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