Angra - The Secret Garden [New Album]

[devieira73]

THAT grooving riff of Caveman! Maybe my favorite from the album (although very hard to choose)

[The Walrus]

Insania is the perfect tempo for me to do cardio at the gym, so I love it even more. War Horns is just plain METAL 

Can we get a thread title change? Secret Garden is old hat now

[gzarruk]

Still can't decide what's my favorite song, but, man, War Horns is pure

[Samsara]

Just listened to the new record, Omni, for the first time. Been 25 years since I last listened to Angra. Good stuff! A little predictable, but I enjoyed it!

[bl5150]

Still can't decide what's my favorite song, but, man, War Horns is pure

Good album but unfortunately for me they rarely got close to matching that track.

[NoseofNicko]

Man Always More has grown on me so much! Didn't care for it before, but now I love it! Love the intro riff and the vocals are just beautiful! The album really satisfies me.

[lucasembarbosa]

Man Always More has grown on me so much! Didn't care for it before, but now I love it! Love the intro riff and the vocals are just beautiful! The album really satisfies me.

I think that Lione over-does it a little, but after all it's just his style and way to translate his emotions.

PS: Someone, please, change the thread title. Thks

[gzarruk]

Still can't decide what's my favorite song, but, man, War Horns is pure

Good album but unfortunately for me they rarely got close to matching that track.

Other songs like Caveman, Magic Mirror and Silence Inside are really good too! The whole album is amazing really.

[The Walrus]

My CD arrived today (ordered from Amazon) and while ripping it, although it was unlisted on the back, I discovered it came with a 12th track, a 2017 rerecording of Z.I.T.O. with Fabio on vocals. And it rocks. 

[Lethean]

Black Widow's Web took me by surprise big time. Was not expecting that. But it works! Curious to hear Lethean's thoughts, being a big Angra fan.

I've had the album for a week now and I *love* it.  Regarding Black Widow's Web - I don't really need to hear harsh vocals in an Angra song to be honest.  I don't hate it, but I don't care for the vocals when they stand alone that much.  However, it's a very good song and I can live with it.  I also thing when the harsh vocals are used along with Fabio that it actually works quite nicely - so that part is a plus.  Also, when the track changes direction - "she may look so innocent" - chills.  That part is sooo good and elevates the whole song.

For me, the opening track, Light of Transcendence, is the weakest track on the album and it just takes off and soars from there.  Light of Transcendence isn't bad - not at all; it's a good opening track and probably good to pull in those who aren't necessarily looking for "more" from Angra.  But there is more, a lot of it, and I think Omni is incredible.  I have to be careful listing favorite tracks because I start and then might as well list the whole album. Magic Mirror, Omni - Silence Inside, and Caveman are probably settling in around the top. 

Since The Bottom of My Soul hasn't been talked about yet, I'll start.  This song, I confess, made me a little emotional.  Not the first time I heard it, but a few times in.  I don't know what it is about Rafael's vocals, but I really connect with them.  There is so much heart and passion in this song (and in much of his singing), and it's special to me.  I get that people might not like his voice, I get that it's more of a ballad and people might be looking for them to continue with the heavy vibe, I get that we all have different tastes and this song just won't appeal to everyone.  But, for those that have maybe just brushed it off, I suggest giving it another listen, and just close your eyes and feel it.  It might still not work for you and so be it, but god do I love this song.

Speaking of vocals, this album is my favorite thing that Fabio has done (of what I've heard, of course).  I thought he was great on Secret Garden, but I think he's even better on this one, in part because they've been working with him longer by now.  I also think they've made some really great use of him and Rafael on some of the same tracks.  Particularly Magic Mirror.  Rafael's light vocals "remembering the days..." and then Fabio comes in with some edge to his voice and it's just *perfect*. 

[The Walrus]

I really dig TBOMS. I love Rafael's voice - Silent Call was one of my favorites on Secret Garden just because of it. (At some point, I need to find his solo album.)

Lethean, even though the subject matter may turn you off and it might not musically be your thing, I think one of Fabio's best albums, concerning vocals, is Rhapsody's Symphony of Enchanted Lands II. About the only thing he doesn't do on that is his rough/harsh vocals.

Shout out to Omni - Infinite Nothing. I love that it's exactly like a film score medley, every time I hear it I can picture the album credits rolling along a montage of images.

[Lethean]

Yes!  I love Silent Call.  And Violet Sky for that matter as well.  And Crushing Room.... have you ever heard his solo album?

Infinite Nothing is great - it reminds me of Gate XIII, although I think Gate XIII is probably a little bit stronger.  I dunno though - Infinite Nothing is a beautiful way to wrap up the album.

Maybe I'll give Rhapsody a try again at some point, but Rhapsody was the reason I didn't like Fabio in the first place, so I'm not sure how well that is going to work...

[The Walrus]

Yes!  I love Silent Call.  And Violet Sky for that matter as well.  And Crushing Room.... have you ever heard his solo album?

Infinite Nothing is great - it reminds me of Gate XIII, although I think Gate XIII is probably a little bit stronger.  I dunno though - Infinite Nothing is a beautiful way to wrap up the album.

Maybe I'll give Rhapsody a try again at some point, but Rhapsody was the reason I didn't like Fabio in the first place, so I'm not sure how well that is going to work...

Rafael's solo album, I have not, but I know of it, and I keep looking for it, but it's prohibitively expensive on discogs.com... I would like to snag a copy by the time ProgPower rolls around, for obvious reasons.

If you like Fabio's voice now, it's worth checking out at least a choice handful of Rhapsody tracks because Fabio did everything possible with his voice in that band (high wails, low notes, operatic singing, Italian crooning, screams, growls, he did it all).

[Lethean]

Yes!  I love Silent Call.  And Violet Sky for that matter as well.  And Crushing Room.... have you ever heard his solo album?

Infinite Nothing is great - it reminds me of Gate XIII, although I think Gate XIII is probably a little bit stronger.  I dunno though - Infinite Nothing is a beautiful way to wrap up the album.

Maybe I'll give Rhapsody a try again at some point, but Rhapsody was the reason I didn't like Fabio in the first place, so I'm not sure how well that is going to work...

Rafael's solo album, I have not, but I know of it, and I keep looking for it, but it's prohibitively expensive on discogs.com... I would like to snag a copy by the time ProgPower rolls around, for obvious reasons.

If you like Fabio's voice now, it's worth checking out at least a choice handful of Rhapsody tracks because Fabio did everything possible with his voice in that band (high wails, low notes, operatic singing, Italian crooning, screams, growls, he did it all).

If you don't mind used, Amazon has it for pretty cheap.  They also have some new ones but one on discogs is cheaper ($15 + shipping).

Regarding Rhapsody - it's not that I don't think his voice will be good.  I think maybe it was the song writing that bothered me.  I don't know.  I just remember how surprised I was seeing him with Kamelot.

[The Walrus]

Ahh. Yeah, Rhapsody just isn't for everyone, it's rather niche despite their popularity in that genre. What lovely orchestrations on Symphony II though, since they used a real orchestra from that point on...

I wasn't aware Amazon had cheap used copies, used is A-OK with me. Just ordered a copy. Thanks

[gzarruk]

I'm with Lethean on Rhapsody. Fabio is one of my favorite metal singers, but I just can't get into Rhapsody, and I've tried a few times already. Guess I'm just not a fan of that kind of power metal. So glad Angra got him

Back to Omni, though, I like Rafael's vocals on this album much more than on Secret Garden. I think he sang too many songs on SC, but here he shines on the right spots, even though I still don't like his part on Travelers of Time.

Lisht of Transcendence feels like a classic Rebirth era track just to cover that style on the new album. I like it, but it's nothing outstanding. Anyway, the rest of the album is THAT good

I have to disagree on Infinite Nothing, though. It does nothing for me. It's true that it makes a lot of sense if you consider it as the closing suite of a movie score, but it feels too long and takes you away from the mood you get after the Silence Inside. Maybe it would've worked better as an Overture?

[Lethean]

I have to disagree with you on Rafael's vocals on Secret Garden. His songs rule and I wouldn't want any of the three to be cut.  I also love his part in Storm of Emotions, and the trade off between him and Fabio on the Syncronicity II cover is amazing.  I would say that I'd like him to sing a bit more on Omni, but then that would mean I'd be changing Omni, and I really don't want to do that.

I agree with you on Light of Transcendence completely.

Infinite Nothing - maybe it would be cool as an overture, but I don't know. It might be a little too mellow for that, and people would be anxious for the rest of the album to start.  But at the end, it's a beautiful way to unwind and come down from the intensity of the album. To relive some of the themes that you heard. And, if you're in a hurry or not in the mood for that, you can easily skip it.

[The Walrus]

I don't think Infinite Nothing would be a good opener for a few reasons, the biggest being it's way longer than an intro track should be and it has several soft spots that don't exactly get you pumped for the metal to follow. Just my two cents, anyway.

I hope Rafael does a solo spot at ProgPower, with either Silent Call or Bottom of My Soul in there. 

[Lethean]

I don't think Infinite Nothing is necessarily too long to be in intro track (after all we've got the Overture on Six Degrees), but I do agree with you that it probably wouldn't work for this album. It just feels more like a wind down, rather than a build up. 

[wolfking]

I've had a listen through the new album but it was kind of on in the background so can't remember a thing from it, except the intro to Caveman, that was fucking brilliant.  Sounds quality though on a whole.  Some really good guitar melodies from what I can recall.

[Lethean]

Yes!  There is a lot of great guitar work on this album. 

[The Walrus]

Yeah, I'm impressed with the guitar work. Particularly Always More, but every song has some great guitar stuff going on. Insania and War Horns have great solos.

Over the weekend I was refreshing my memory on Fabio's history and it's crazy how good he sounds after being in bands for almost 30 years. He's more popular than ever, he's constantly working, he smokes, and he still sounds (arguably) better than ever. Him with Angra is a match made in heaven, it's just a shame Kiko isn't still there. I wish nothing but the best for him though being in Megadeth - that's the opportunity of a lifetime.

[Lethean]

I think pretty much every song on the album has a great guitar solo.  I think Kiko's heart is still there but he just couldn't pass up on the opportunity with Megadeth. But he seems very proud of Omni as well.  Maybe one day he'll be back.

[Lethean]

Re: Fabio, I wonder if it really was the songwriting which made me not like him before, or just a combination of things. I heard his name for a long time but don't remember the first time I heard him.  It was probably Rhapsody. But I also didn't care for him so much in Vision Divine. I never heard their first couple albums, but got into them with the first album with Michele Luppi, and I loved Luppi's voice. When they got Fabio back it just didn't work for me, and I gave it a lot of listens. I wonder if it's because that album was just weaker than the Luppi ones anyway, regardless of who was on vocals, or if I just didn't like Fabio in that band.  Maybe at some point I'll give it another shot.

On the other hand, maybe Angra is just so good and the songs are so good that I got into him as a result; backwards in a way. First I liked the songs, then liked his voice singing them.

[The Walrus]

Frankly I never was crazy about Vision Divine or Labyrinth, with or without Fabio. I do like that song The Dream Maker, though.

Angra is an oddity in that they seem to get better and better with each album (mostly).

[Lethean]

I liked Vision Divine because of Luppi's voice. I might have liked the albums he was on with someone else, but it was really his voice that made it interesting for me.

My Angra preferences go up and down and change a lot.  I'm not even going to try to fit Omni into a ranking because it's too new.  I have a hard enough time ranking the rest, but that's good. Angra albums don't really need to compete with each other.

[The Walrus]

I actually am very interested to see you rank Angra's albums sometime, if you absolutely had to assign spots to them. I know for me Aqua would be at the bottom, SG and Omni would be at the top, and Temple of Shadows would be #3...

[Lethean]

I'm doing a little listening in preparation for this.  Have to do my due diligence, right?

But even when I come up with a ranking (can I have a tie?) I'll leave Omni off the list. It needs, and deserves, more time.

[The Walrus]

I will reluctantly allow a tie with the condition you put Omni #1.  Just kidding, go for it.

[Lethean]

I will reluctantly allow a tie with the condition you put Omni #1.  Just kidding, go for it.

This is sooooo hard.  I just finished listening to all of the studio albums up to Secret Garden, and I think I may have just made it harder for myself rather than easier.  Why are you making me do this?  I'm going to tell Stadler on you. 

[Lethean]

I'll start with the only easy slot for me. 

#8 - Fireworks. 

I don't think Fireworks is a bad album, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it today.  However, it just doesn't quite have as much of that special something that the rest of the albums have.  It does have it at times - it's just not as consistent.  I can't even say that any of the songs are bad.  They're just not as good as Angra usually is.  Some of the highlights for me are Lisbon, Fireworks, Gentle Change, and the bonus track Rainy Nights (so beautiful).

[Lethean]

The rest of this is really hard.  I love each of these albums.  Each album was pretty much the best as I was listening to it.   So here goes the rest of the ranking, before I change my mind 20 more times.

#7 - Angels Cry

I hate ranking this so low.  Maybe it's losing out a bit by being the first album I listened to today and some of the others are fresher in my mind.  Maybe there's a tiny drop-off in song quality as you get to the end of this album, and that's also contributing to the lower ranking.  But I love this album.  It has some incredible songs - Time and Never Understand are my favorites, Stand Away probably next, and I like the "hits" as well, especially Angels Cry, though I am getting a bit tired of both of them live.  Angels Cry has to be one of the strongest debut albums out there, it is so good for a bunch of young guys just releasing their first work.  Ugh now I'm playing some of the songs in my head and I want to put it higher again.  I'll leave it here for now or else I'll be here all night.


#6 - Secret Garden

I hate putting this at #6 even more.  I love Secret Garden.  I played it to death for the longest time and I think it is incredible.  (This is how awesome Angra is).  However - I really dislike the title track.  It might be the only Angra song that I don't like, so that being the case, the album suffers for it when I don't skip it (and I didn't tonight, since I'm doing a ranking).  Black Hearted Soul and Perfect Symmetry I like, because Angra always manages to make me like their songs like that, but I do feel they've done songs like that better before.  Otherwise - highlights - Newborn Me, Final Light, Storm of Emotions, Violet Sky, Upper Levels, Crushing Room, and Silent Call (I think you get the picture...); oh and the Synchronicity 2 cover is phenomenal.   

#5 - Rebirth

I think Rafael and Kiko made a statement with this album - that Angra could continue, be reborn, and be even better than before.  Singers are a matter of taste, and some people thought it was an upgrade and some thought the opposite. I love both Edu and Andre, with a preference for Edu but I'm happy with both singers in Angra.  But I think they their rhythm section definitely got an upgrade - Aquiles Priester is a great drummer and Felipe Andreoli is just phenomenal (said just like James LaBrie would say it ).  The new line up came out with a great first album together in Rebirth.  Nova Era is a bright start to the album, but I think it only gets better after that.  Acid Rain, Rebirth, Judgement Day, Unholy Wars are my favorites on this one (but I like them all). 

# 4 - Aqua

I know a lot of people don't like this one.  Even I downgrade it a little bit in my thoughts, maybe because of all the negativity.  But as soon as I started playing it tonight - my love for came rushing back.    My high ranking of it could be part sentimental - this album came out after a long Angra drought, and I played it a *lot*.  I don't think it's as immediate as many of their albums.  A lot of the tracks had to grow on me; at first I was excited just to hear a new Angra album, then I thought it was weaker compared to their other material, and then as I listened, one by one, the tracks really started to click for me.  There are a lot of twists and turns in this album.  Also, it features Edu's best song writing in Lease of Life (imo of course).


#3 - Temple of Shadows

I'm surprising myself with this ranking, because Temple of Shadows is often my favorite.  Not today I suppose.  This album is a masterpiece though.  The first half is stellar, and the 2nd half is perfect.  The run from The Shadow Hunter to the end of the album is just <I need a new adjective for how good it is.> 

#2 - Aurora Consurgens

Another album that people don't like, but people are just wrong sometimes.  This is another Angra album that needs more time to grow on you, but when it does, it doesn't let go.  Favorites - The Course of Nature, Ego Painted Grey, So Near So Far, Passing By, Scream Your Heart Out... I could keep going.  Abandoned Fate is a great closer as well, and even though it's a simple song, it's also one that had to grow on me a little bit. 

#1 - Holy Land

There's just no other album like Holy Land.  They never made another one quite like it, and no one else did either.  (And that's OK; it makes it all the more special). 

[The Walrus]

I'm not surprised by Holy Land taking the top spot, but I am surprised at Secret Garden's low position (though I recognize your clarification that you still love it) and Aqua and AC's higher rankings, particularly Aurora. That one does have some great songs and generally isn't loved by fans. Very cool! I will have to sleep on my own ranking and share later. There are a couple fighting for the bottom spot  just kidding. It's tricky ranking their albums.

[Lethean]

Well... going by how quickly you disliked certain Rush albums, or Promised Land, it does make me wonder if maybe some more time with Aurora and Aqua might be in order for you...   (In all seriousness, you might have listened to them 100 times and they just aren't for you).  I just think Aurora especially is really intense, and with both albums, there is so much there that you can listen to them over and over again and still hear new things.  Or hear the same thing in a different way.

[wolfking]

I like AC being so high.