Customer Reviews

Angels Cry

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fortunately by the early to mid 90's I was already utilizing the online community to discover more progressive metal as I was already a huge Dream Theater fan. Someone on the Dream Theater mailing list recommended a few bands and those were Angra, Symphony X, Stratovarius, and X-Japan. Except for Stratovarius, I still listen to the other three bands. The firs disc I picked up was ANGELS CRY and I remember buying it in the winter and still listening everyday by the middle of the summer.

Critics who pass off Angra as 'just another' prog metal band are sorely mistaken. Angra was one of the first...how can you make a judgment like that with this disc's 1993 release? Except for Dream Theater, there was no other prog metal at the time, and Angra was always a little different...not nearly as progressive as Dream Theater but with more of a classical edge. They also contribute a Brazilian influence on their albums and in their shows that adds a certain sense of individuality and new life to the music.

On this particular disc, I feel like they have not reached their musical peak...a peak which would come on the follow-up 1995 release, HOLYLAND. The Kate Bush song, 'Wuthering Heights' was a mistake. I respect the fact that Matos can sound like Kate Bush, but at the same time it also kind of creeps me out. Aside from that debacle, though, the rest of ANGELS CRY is epic. On this disc we have the original lineup which would continue for 2 more LP's - Andre Matos (vocals), Kiko Loureiro (guitar), Rafael Bittencourt (guitar), Luis Mariutti (bass), and Ricardo Confessori (drums). The guitarists are masterful song writers and performers but the element that got me initially hooked is Matos. His range and power are unbelievable. He can be soft and subtle as we hear on 'Stand Away' or he can be powerful on tracks like 'Carry On' and 'Streets of Tomorrow'.

This album opens up as most of this band's releases do - with a short intro, (in this case 'Unfinished Allegro') followed by a well written instant-classic, ('Carry On'), which still remains a popular 'encore piece' at their concerts. 'Time' starts off with a subtle acoustic guitar and builds into a Queensryche-esque energetic power metal rhythm. It also contains some nice keyboard parts after the guitar solos. The title track, 'Angels Cry,' another classic, is one of the more progressive tracks on the album. In this piece, we hear an element that I love about this band, which is the harmonized background vocals sung under the lead from time to time. We first hear it on this song, when the lead sings "Oh see the sun in the sky" while behind it the line "from the dawn of destruction" is sung. This gives a surreal edge to the music that makes it sound almost extra-terrestrial in origin. 'Stand Away' and 'Never Understand' are the most progressive tracks, while 'Streets of Tomorrow' is the heaviest. 'Evil Warning' is another epic track, and if you listen carefully you can hear what appear to be banjos in the background playing a latin etude. Also progressive in nature, we hear the classical side but also the potential of the two near-perfect guitarists, Loureiro and Bittencourt, and their use of wah pedals as well as perfectly synchronized harmonies. This album finishes off with the beautiful power ballad, 'Lasting Child,' which puts Matos in the spotlight again. He does not dissapoint.

Angra took the progressive elements of Dream Theater, the power metal elements of bands like Helloween and Queensryche and mixed it with their own original 'Brazilian Sound' to come up with some of the greatest metal I believe has ever been released. I wish more bands like Angra were from the United States so I could actually see them live. I did have the fortune of seeing this band on the REBIRTH tour when they played one show in Brooklyn, NY, but I also wished I could have seen them with Matos on vocals.

I strongly recommend ANGELS CRY as well as all of this bands' music to any fans of progressive metal or power metal. They're not as technically masterful as say, Dream Theater, but they are original and well trained nonetheless. I also further implore the doubtful critics of this band to find other music that sounded like this in 1993.

I've been told that "Carry On" was elected THE BEST SONG EVER on a survey by Nippon Magazine. That's got to mean something!

But that is no big surprise, cause there in Japan they love Angra! Do you know why? Listen to this great album and you will understand.

And a magazine theorized that it is because music is taught at schools there, so kids grow knowing what is good music like (for this reason, Sepultura doesn't have many fans there...).

[And you should also know that André Matos was the singer on Viper, another Brazilian band really loved by the Japanese people.]

All the musicians are really talented, André Matos has the most wonderful voice I have ever heard, and there is a special guest - Kai Hansen! And pay attention to the lyrics, they're also great.

Ignore all of the other reviews. Angels Cry is truly a debut masterpiece, a must have for any heavy metal fan. All of the musicians are really talented, singer Andre Matos has one of the best voices in the biz and is also a great keyboardist. Also guitarrists Kiko Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt are truly powerfull, this being demonstrated in Helloween`s offer to sign Kiko as lead guitar. But Angra is not about individual personalities, it`s about the songs. Carry On is perhaps Angra`s best song, and the rest of the album is worthy to stand up next to this amazing song. This album is also a must have because you need to reckognize songs for when you hear them live, where Angra displays their true potential.

When i first heard the song Streets of tomorrow, i was amazed at the high level of songwriting skills these guys have. Then, after I bought the album, i heard the song Angel's Cry and I immediately became a fan. Other notable songs include Never Understand, Time, Carry On, and Stand Away. Wuthering Heights might be too adventurous for some people but i like Andre's Higher pitched vocals.
Kiko is a great guitarist and if you ever want to see an awesome guitar/bass duel, try out there live DVD Rebirth World Tour.

Many say that this album lacks personality and sounds horrable.... I beg to differ. This is by far one of my favorite bands and a very good one i may add... Andre Mattos vocals are very strong and well done... And the musical arrangements are all perfect it all flows together well and sounds simply awsome! Angras Angels Cry is one of the greatest metal masterpieces to come out of the bueatiful country of Brazil!

I recently heard Angra on internet radio. I fell in love immdiately. Angels Cry is a great example of what a band can do right. The driving beats of Evil Warning and Carry On along with the mysteriouis sounds of TIme make this a CD which you can listen to over and over again.

Unbelievable album. These guys are great. The guitar work is as good as it gets. I have read some criticism of the singing. You won't get it from me. He has awesome range and great power. There are some similarities with Helloween. All the more reason to buy it!

I have to admit that I overlooked Angra when they released their debut album Angels Cry back in 1993. At that point I was trading most of my metal CDs for Seattle's wave of flannel-clad grunge merchants. Aside from my Metallica albums, Dream Theater's Images and Words was the only other metal album that I hung onto. Had I known there were bands out there that followed Dream Theater's progressive approach to metal, I like to think my musical tastes in the mid 1990's would have been drastically different. As it stands, I didn't discover Angra until 1999, just before the breakup of the original lineup.

I've always considered Angra to be a power metal band first and foremost. I'm sure many see them as a progressive metal band, but to me it's clear that the band's influences lean far more towards Helloween and Iron Maiden than Yes and ELP. Still, there's definitely a progressive metal feel to Angels Cry, which is what led me to the album in the first place. The band's technical prowess and intricate song structures are certainly worthy of the progressive label, even if the overall melodic, anthemic approach is power metal all the way. Either way it is clear that Angra, as well as bands like Stratovarius and Conception, were the forerunners of the whole prog/power genre.

Angels Cry is an incredibly strong debut album. It's so well written and well executed that it comes across as anything but a debut effort. Everything about this album just seems to work perfectly, from the classical elements to the high-speed metal riffs to the lush keyboards to the powerful melodies. Even Andre Matos's high-pitched vocals, which have been known to turn some people off, are executed perfectly here. Just about every song on this album is fantastic, though "Carry On", "Never Understand", and the title track are my favorites. The only weak moment (and even that's not as bad as some would have you believe) is the band's take on Kate Bush's song "Wuthering Heights", which finds Matos trying to match Bush's vocals, taking his already ball-squeezing vocals to new heights.

Angels Cry is a superb metal album, and a milestone for the prog/power genre. This is an album that belongs in the collection of everyone into bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, DragonForce, Vanden Plas, Tad Morose, Brainstorm, and just about every other prog/power band. The only reason I gave it a 4-star rating is that the band's follow-up album Holy Land is that much better, and a true 5-star effort.

NOTE: Century Media's 1999 version of Angels Cry features three bonus tracks - an alternate version of "Evil Warning" and remixes of "Angels Cry" and "Carry On". They're interesting enough, but don't really add that much value to this already great album.

Angra come from Brazil but don't let that fool you - these boys have easily as much sheer talent and drive as any of their genre rivals. In Angels Cry their stall is set out in fine style, the band coming across as fully formed musically even here though later albums would show even more facets to their skills.

For the benefit of the uninitiated Angra play melodic power metal with progressive twinges. Stratovarius springs to mind due to the similarities in vocal styles of Angras Andre Matos and the Strats Timo Kotipelto, though Angra are heavier than much of the Stratovarius back catalogue as their music is less driven by keyboard riffs. Other bands that come to mind are Supreme Majesty a little bit and also Elegy around the State of Mind album.

Musically these guys are quite accomplished, Matos having a fine voice for this sort of thing and in Kiko Loureiro they have a lead guitarist who can peel off a great solo at will. One strength is their songwriting which is mature and well honed. The guest musicians should also be mentioned and include Kai Hansen, Dirk Schachter, Thomas Nack, Alex Holzworth and the producer Sasha Paeth also helped out in a couple of places.

Personal faves would be Carry On, Time and the title track. All three show good strong structures, show off the bands inherent sense of melody and the musical skills of the players. Though for something totally different check out the cover of Kate Bushs' Wuthering Heights. Which if nothing else shows these blokes have a varied record collection!

A fine record let down a touch by a drifting towards the end with a few anonymous tracks bringing the overall effect down. Still a band any melodic metal fan should acquant themselves with and Angels Cry is as good a place to start as any.

This is really the kind of album you can listen to again and again, the songs never get tiring. This album has a lot of Angra classics on it like Angels Cry, Carry On, and Time. It also has a few other songs that I've been listening to again and again recently, namely Never Understand and Evil Warning. The only two songs I thought were actually rather bland and uninteresting were Streets of Tomorrow and Lasting Child (and maybe Stand Away). But really, the rest of the album is very good, classic after classic. And there's even Wuthering Heights cover song!

So get this album and if you enjoyed Holy Land by Angra, you'll like this one too.