Angra Unveil London Show
aaamusic | On 21, Jan 2011
Awesome Brazilian Melodic Power / Speed Metal act Angra have confirmed a headline show at London’s Islington Academy on 26th February, following rave reviews of their seventh full length studio album, ‘Aqua’, released in September 2009 on SPV / Steamhammer Records. ‘Aqua’, the title of the band’s new album, is the Latin word for water. Guitarist Rafael Bittencourt explains; “The element water is the main character in the story. It changes in cycles, transforming itself, transforming things around it, representing the wrath in the surges, then the forgiveness in the calm. Maybe by coincidence, this year we had strong storms that caused floods, landslides and other problems to many Brazilian cities. We could see that the same thing was happening in different countries almost at the same time injuring and killing people. It seems that the waters are representing a time of change.”
The new video for ‘Lease of Life’, taken from ‘Aqua’ is here:-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3D_ENwGXrI
Angra, who formed in 1991, combine metal with progressive, classic, Brazilian, ethnic, pop and many other styles of music. Named after the ancient Brazilian mythological goddess of fire, Angra, are arguably the founders of the modern technical power metal scene. Proud standard bearers of the torch handed them by bands such as Helloween and Iron Maiden at the demise of the ‘80s, they not only took the genre to the next level, but they blazed an illustrious trail for others to follow at a time when the music industry en masse had all but declared the genre dead in the water.
‘Angels Cry’, Angra’s debut album, released in 1993, was rapturously received not only in their native Brazil, but also in Japan (where it went gold, as have all the band’s albums to date) and all over Europe, especially in Germany. After the release of ‘Holy Land’ (1996), and ‘Fireworks’ (1998), original vocalist Andre Matos, bassist Luis Mariutti and drummer Ricardo Confessori left the band to form Shaaman. The two remaining members, guitarists Rafael Bittencourt and Kiko Loureiro then took their time to find suitable replacements in the form of singer Edu Falaschi, (a highly accomplished vocalist who was on the shortlist for the Iron Maiden frontman slot when Bruce Dickinson temporarily quit in the mid-nineties) and the rhythm section of bassist Felipe Andreoli and drummer Aquiles Priester. Angra’s subsequent album, ‘Rebirth’, released in 2001, went down a storm with the band’s huge fanbase, who welcomed the new line-up with open arms. ‘Temple Of Shadows’, released in 2004, was awarded KKKK in Kerrang! by Steve Beebee, who raved “South American metallers Angra have never been in a better position to connect their majestic, galloping music with an international audience. It’s a lush symphony of fine musicianship, full of epic songs that slowly weave their way into your heart.” ‘Aurora Consurgens’, their most recent album released late in 2006, was awarded 9/10 in Powerplay Magazine by writer Dave Cockett, who proclaimed it “A true masterpiece which will be the envy of all those left trailing in its wake.” Before the band began working on ‘Aqua’, drummer Ricardo Confessori re-joined Angra, having reconnected with Rafael Bittencourt, when they worked together on his ‘Brainworms 1’ project; “We had a few rehearsals where he jammed around songs from the old and new era of the band. We presented some new ideas for him to arrange and he showed to have kept his creativity and graceful musicianship. We had good laughs remembering things we’ve done together in the past and how the Brazilian-mixed kind grooves were a very significant quality of our pre-‘Rebirth’ era.”
